The south-east would top a life expectancy table of industrialised nations, with men living to 83.1 years – the north-West would come in the bottom five

England remains a profoundly unequal country with more than eight years separating the male life expectancy of the richest people in the south and east from the poorest in the north, a new study has found.

While great progress has been made in improving male and female life expectancy since 1990, the comprehensive Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors (GBD) study found that the health gap between rich and poor has barely altered in 25 years. The figures, published in The Lancet, show that if the healthiest region of England, the south-east, were a country it would top a league of 22 industrialised nations for its health outcomes. But if the north-west were a country, it would be in the bottom five.

Workers have been reprimanded for calling residents affectionate names

Staff hit back at the ticking off, saying the residents like the informal terms

But officials from Care Quality Commission have insisted terms aren’t used

Care home workers have been reprimanded for calling residents affectionate names such as sweetie, love, darling and handsome. Critical inspectors told them the terms were ‘patronising and demeaning’ to the dozen adults with learning difficulties. Staff also use family nicknames for some, such as Parsnip. They hit back at the ticking off, saying that the residents like the informal terms, especially those who have no relatives to visit them.

However, officials from the Care Quality Commission have insisted: ‘The language was meant to be friendly but it could be regarded as demeaning and patronising.’ They highlighted other failings at Brackenley Residential Care Home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, marking it as ‘requiring improvement’. The privately run home has pledged to make changes but declared that it would continue to call residents by the familiar and affectionate names.

Stephanie Kirkman Meikle, chief executive of Harrogate Skills 4 Living Centre, which runs the home, said: ‘It did surprise us when they picked up this thing about terms of endearment. If you have a learning difficulty and you are given a term of endearment, then it is nice to know you are loved, particularly if you have no other family. ‘Some residents have their own terms of endearment that they asked to be called. One likes to be known as Parsnip because that’s what she is known as in her family, so that’s what we call her. ‘We always discuss these things with residents and it is in their care plans, we would never call someone something they don’t want.

NHS will “piggyback” on fire safety visits, asking firefighters who check smoke alarms to also carry out basic health checks

Firefighters will be trained to carry out basic health checks and remind elderly people to get flu jabs during home visits to check smoke alarms, under plans to ease the strain on the NHS. The fire service already carries out 670,000 fire safety checks in homes each year and Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said it now planned to “piggyback” on these visits in order to relieve pressure on the health service.

Fire crews would be expected to identify trip hazards, check that homes are heated properly and remind people about immunisations, under plans agreed with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA). They could also be trained to look out for other health issues such as eyesight problems in order to encourage people to seek medical help, under the new partnership.

The deal comes after accident and emergency departments faced sustained pressure last winter, with waiting time targets missed for 33 consecutive weeks from last September to May.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants patients to be given a definitive diagnosis or the “all clear” within 28 days of a GP referral. The target, which will be introduced from 2020, could help save up to 11,000 lives a year, according to the Independent Cancer Taskforce.

Five hospitals across the UK will pilot the programme before it is rolled out nationally. If the target is met Britain would become one of the first countries in the world to adhere to such a timetable.

Some £300m will be invested to help pay for the training of an additional 200 staff to carry out endoscopies. This will be alongside an extra 250 gastroenterologists the NHS had already committed to train.

After a heartfelt and passionate debate in the House of Commons, MPs have voted 330 to 118 to reject the Assisted Dying Bill. As many as 85 MPs spoke, sharing personal stories and compelling arguments both for and against the bill, which proposed that a terminally ill person should be able to request assistance to end their own life.

The bill specified that for a person’s request to be granted, they must be terminally ill and “reasonably expected” to die within six months. Their decision would have had to be “voluntary, clear, settled and informed”, put forward in a written declaration signed by two doctors, and approved by a High Court judge. Only after a cooling off period of 14 days would a lethal drug have been prescribed.

Here, two experts in medical ethics sum up some of the arguments for and against the bill.

Overworked, stressed health professionals are cured with a secretary of state who knows nothing of service they work in and its ideals

The current impasse between Jeremy Hunt and the medical profession over what the secretary of state likes to call 24/7 working in NHS hospitals is expected to come to a head this weekend. This says far more about political imperatives in Whitehall than it does about realities on hospital wards.

Allow me to illustrate my argument referring to a patient recently admitted to our care. After lengthy discussions with the patient’s family, when all hope of recovery was extinguished, the medical team at the hospital where I am a cardiac surgeon switched off the artificial heart that had been supporting their mother, sister and daughter.

As is so often the case, the family was embarrassingly grateful for the care that we had given them, despite the unhappy outcome. Our patients don’t expect guaranteed results, nor do they expect infallibility. They expect honesty and sincerity; and, unlike too many politicians, they are quick to acknowledge professionals doing their utmost in the face of formidable odds.

This particular patient (let us call her Mrs W) presented with a condition that is both common and, if untreated, uniformly fatal. An attempt to deal with the problem without recourse to open surgery (and the significant attendant risk of paraplegia) resulted in a complication that necessitated emergency surgery.

In a free vote in the Commons, 118 MPs were in favour and 330 against plans to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives with medical supervision.

In a passionate debate, some argued the plans allowed a “dignified and peaceful death” while others said they were “totally unacceptable”.

Pro-assisted dying campaigners said the result showed MPs were out of touch.

Under the proposals, people with fewer than six months to live could have been prescribed a lethal dose of drugs, which they had to be able to take themselves. Two doctors and a High Court judge would have needed to approve each case. Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, welcomed the rejection of the legislation, saying the current law existed to protect those who were sick, elderly, depressed or disabled. He said: “It protects those who have no voice against exploitation and coercion, it acts as a powerful deterrent to would-be abusers and does not need changing.”

But Sarah Wootton, the chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said it was an “outrage” that MPs had gone against the views of the majority of the public who supported the bill. She added that “dying people deserve better”.

“It’s three weeks since our mum, Barbara, died,” says Gillian, “but even though Sue went to the funeral she keeps forgetting that she is dead”

It breaks Gillian Holland’s heart every time her 47 year old sister Sue asks “Can I see mum now?”. “It’s three weeks since our mum, Barbara, died,” says Gillian, “but even though Sue went to the funeral she keeps forgetting that she is dead.” “I tell her that if I could take her, I would … but then 15 minutes later she asks again.” “It’s like a knife in my heart each time.”

Sue Cole is suffering from a rare early onset dementia which was diagnosed earlier this year, reports Liverpool Echo.

It has devastated her family. But it has inspired Gillian, too, to take part in the Alzheimer’s Society’s biggest annual fundraiser, the Memory Walk, in Liverpool, to raise funds and awareness of this debilitating disease.

“It was a massive shock to us when a brain scan showed Sue had frontotemporal dementia,” explains Gillian, 52, from Bootle. “We had no idea it could effect someone so young.

Controversial ‘right to die’ laws are to be debated in parliament today for the first time in almost 20 years. Labour MP Rob Marris will introduce the Assisted Dying Bill after coming top of the Private Members’ Bill ballot following the general election.

The legislation, which passed an initial vote in the House of Lords last year but failed to become law, is a first key question of conscience for the new House of Commons. Mr Marris said his Bill was about offering people “choice and dignity”.

In a blog post ahead of the debate, the Wolverhampton South West MP said: “With appropriate, strong safeguards, terminally ill adults of sound mind should be legally allowed to choose to have assistance to end their own lives.”

“I value life, and I do understand that some people believe very deeply that ending one’s own life is always wrong. Nevertheless, the depth and sincerity of their belief should not mean that they deny choice to those of us who do not share their beliefs”.ROB MARRIS MP

‘Alarming’ findings from the first major study to examine differences in hospital discharge times shows patients are far more likely to die after being sent home at weekends

Hospital patients are up to a third more likely to die if they are sent home from hospital at weekends, the first major research into discharge times has revealed. The 13 year study of one million hospital patients shows far higher mortality rates among those who are discharged on Saturdays and Sundays – especially for the elderly.

Experts said patients are being put at risk from a lack of senior doctors involved in discharge decisions, gaps in key hospital services, and the failure of GP, community and social care services to look after patients sent home at weekends. Charities said the findings were “alarming” and showed an urgent need to increase levels of care at weekends. The research comes as doctors unions agreed on Thursday night to reopen negotiations on the contract for consultants, in order to increase levels of weekend cover, or see them imposed.

The British Medical Association (BMA) had been given a deadline of the end of Friday to agree changes to future consultants’ contracts, to lose the right to opt out of non-emergency work or see a new deal forced upon them by the Government.

The Last Six Months is a moving story about my mother Kay who went into an NHS hospital for a routine hip operation.

Her condition deteriorated soon after her operation so I started writing notes every day. Six months later I was still writing, and sadly she died while still in the hospital. My notes have become an up-to-date diary during this terrible and tragic course of events, it has also allowed me to remember the many wonderful conversations, the laughter, the tears, the anxieties, and the closeness we had. I hope from reading my mother’s story, and from my readers who have kindly contributed their own stories of loved ones they should never be yesterday’s news, it’s so important that these stories are shown and not forgotten.

According to a poll by the UK Sepsis Trust, 40% of the public said they’d heard the word – but of those, only 40% knew it was a medical condition. It’s one we should all be aware of, however. According to the NHS, it’s estimated that more than 100,000 people are admitted to hospital with sepsis every year, and around 37,000 people will die as a result of the condition.

On Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, W1A actor Jason Watkins – who is supporting the UK Sepsis Trust’s new pocket guide for parents about the infection – opened up about the loss of his two-year-old daughter Maude to the condition on New Year’s Day 2011.

“Every 3.5 seconds someone around the world dies of this condition,” he said. Explaining why more people aren’t aware of sepsis, he added: “It’s complicated by other symptoms. In our case, it was simply flu.”

Accident and emergency departments are nearing crisis point, but evidence suggests that some of the pressure comes from patients who want to avoid having to wait for a GP appointment. Could pharmacists reduce the burden by helping to treat A&E patients suffering relatively minor conditions?

This is the question that Health Education England (HEE) hopes to answer through a national project. The aim, says Matt Aiello, special projects manager, transformation, at Health Education West Midlands, is to find out whether pharmacists can be a “relevant and viable part” of the A&E team and, if so, what kind of training they would need. A pilot in the West Midlands, looking at 782 patients attending A&E in three acute trusts between April 2013 and August 2014, was encouraging.

It found that 39.8% of patients could have been dealt with by a pharmacist with advanced clinical practice training skills, while an independent prescribing pharmacist could have dealt with another 5.1%.

Margaret Lowbridge, 74, of Oldbury, says she was told by Professor David Ferry, her consultant at Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital, to go home and arrange palliative care. She says she only learned of the error when she was sent a letter asking her to attend a follow-up appointment 18 months later.

Mrs Lowbridge has now developed lung cancer, which she believes may be because she was advised not to undergo any more treatment, causing her existing cancer to spread. She was first diagnosed with bowel cancer in January 2009 and underwent surgery. She was left with a colostomy bag and had chemotherapy. The treatment seemed to have been a success until June 2013, when a regular check-up showed a lump.

Mrs Lowbridge said she was referred back to Professor Ferry who offered her chemotherapy but the treatment caused a deep tissue infection and was withdrawn. She says she was then told no further treatment could be offered and she should contact a Macmillan nurse in relation to palliative care. She said she was also told she would not be alive in six months and should arrange her funeral.

The health secretary has promised an independent investigation of the death of a baby whose ‘incredibly distressing’ case highlighted a regulatory ‘gap’ in the NHS’s ability to probe historic complaints.

He said NHS England patient safety director Mike Durkin would commission an independent investigation of the case in his new role in charge of patient safety at NHS Improvement – the regulator to be formed by merging Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority.

Elizabeth was born prematurely at Frimley Park Hospital in 2000. She was left with permanent brain damage after hospital staff failed to monitor or treat her high blood pressure, and in 2001 she died of suffocation when a newly qualified nurse failed to keep her breathing tube clear. The cause of her brain damage was only confirmed in 2013.

Figures show the number of organ donors has fallen for the first time in 11 years – despite more than 5,000 people being on the NHS waiting list for a transplant.

In the last year there were 4,655 transplants in the UK – a 5% decrease on the year before. That means 224 fewer people received a transplant. With the drop in the number of organ donors, health experts are calling for a change in attitude and are urging families to discuss the issue so they know their relatives’ wishes.

It is rare for an organ donor and the recipient to meet, but when Terry Clarke, 69, received a kidney from Bob Wiggins two years ago he had to say thank you in person. Terry, who is now able to spend more time with his family, believes it can be so different for others.

“I think it’s unique. You don’t expect someone to give you a kidney, even someone from your own family. I wouldn’t ask them to give a kidney. You just wait and hope, accept life as it is and suddenly someone comes along and gives you a kidney,e told Sky News. “Suddenly someone comes along and gives you a kidney. I’ve met him, he’s not a bad fella is he? He’s change my life enormously. How do thank somebody who gives you a kidney?”

The families of people who are dying are too often excluded from “critical conversations” about what happens at the end of life, experts have warned.

More needs to be done to involve the dying and their loved ones to ensure people have the death they want, they said. Dr Jonathan Koffman, senior lecturer in palliative care at King’s College London, said a round 500,000 people die in England every year, with around a fifth dying from cancer.

“How will we identify these individuals and provide them with impeccable assessment?,” he said, adding “you can’t undo these moments”. He said NHS care was variable for those who were dying and there were examples of poor care. “There’s inconsistency and poor quality care meted out to people at critical moments in their life,” he said. “Then there’s poor management of really distressing symptoms.

“This is not a vocal constituency – they can’t talk. And, of course, the family members who are subsequently bereaved are too wounded by those experiences to then talk and help us work out what to do better.”

Around 50% of people die in hospital despite the fact most want to die at home, Dr Koffman said. “The reality is that they don’t get what they want.”

New and costly cancer drugs developed to extend the lives of patients are expected to be axed on Friday from an NHS list. Among the drugs NHS England is expected to “de-list” from the Cancer Drugs Fund is Kadcyla, which holds the record as the most expensive cancer drug brought to market, costing £90,000 annually per patient.

Nice agreed the drug was effective for women whose advanced breast cancer no longer responded to Herceptin, but its chief executive, Sir Andrew Dillon, was outspoken about the “unacceptable” price tag. “We had hoped that Roche would have recognised the challenge the NHS faces in managing the adoption of expensive new treatments by reducing the cost of Kadcyla to the NHS,” Dillon said in April 2014.

My name is Adeline Dalley, I was once a Senior Carer who specialised in Palliative Care, I loved my job more than anything. After one day turning whistle blower to protect the war Hero, Sir Douglas Baders Wife all would swiftly change. So what did I do next?

Write my book – Behind Those Care Home Doors

Co-write the song on here called Behind Closed Doors

Why – Because the neglect/ abuse and corrupt behaviours at the expense of our vulnerable elders continues every day. After seeing new management walk into a new job and no action taken (She refused to let me call an ambulance for Lady Bader who I had notice suffered a stroke, saying it could wait until Monday and see a GP).

Three nurses have been struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council register for poor care which in some cases led to patient deaths at a nursing home in south Wales.

After an 81-day hearing, an NMC panel found that failings by a total of five nurses at the Brithdir Nursing Home in Caerphilly amounted to misconduct. Nurses Tembakazi Moyana, Daphne Richards and Rachel Tanta were struck off on Friday. Susan Greening received a caution order and Beverley Mock was suspended for one year. The NMC panel cleared one nurse, Rachel Pritchard, of all charges relating to misconduct.

In May, a disciplinary panel found 86 failings proven out of an alleged 150 against the six nurses in relation to nine residents between 2004 and 2006. Amongst other charges they related to poor management of patients’ pressure sores and record keeping.

The father of a man who took his own life after he absconded from a psychiatric hospital ward has claimed that a health trust failed “to provide a safe and secure place” to treat his son.

Maurice Campbell was speaking after the inquest into the death of 26-year-old Patrick, who died at the Ulster Hospital after he fell from its multi-storey car park shortly after scaling an outside fence nearly two years ago. Coroner Suzanne Anderson said in her findings that the Queen’s University student from Donaghadee, Co Down, had died on September 16, 2013 “by his own act when the balance of his mind was disturbed”.

She accepted a consultant psychiatrist’s evidence that open wards, where Mr Campbell was being assessed, had to “strike a balance to provide an environment that is safe but not necessarily restrictive”. She agreed with his view that a single-purpose psychiatric care unit should be provided by the South Eastern Health and Social Services Trust to replace the current three units, none of which were purpose-built, and will send her findings to Health Minister Simon Hamilton.

A spokeswoman for the trust said the lessons had been learnt and recommendations implemented from the serious adverse incident review conducted after Patrick’s death. “The trust concurs with the views of the coroner that a purpose-built inpatient mental health unit would benefit the treatment of our patients in an open ward environment,” she said. “The death of a patient by suicide is a tragedy, and one that our mental health professionals, doctors, nurses and social workers continually strive to prevent.”

A man says he fears having to tell friends and family he is HIV positive after he was among 780 patients whose details were leaked by a health clinic.

The 56 Dean Street clinic, in London, accidentally sent out names and email addresses in an online newsletter. James, from London, told BBC News: “I am not ready to disclose my HIV status to my wider friends or family. I fear now that I have no choice.” He added he felt scared his details would end up being spread online.

Patients were supposed to be blind-copied into the newsletter, but instead details were sent as a group email to other people who have attended HIV clinics at Dean Street in Soho. People who had opted in for the clinic’s OptionE service were able to see the names and email addresses of other patients.

Lenin Nightingale has adapted an assessment form used in America, from the National Caregivers Library, by which friends and relatives can give scores on a 1-5 rating scale for a series of nursing home performances that impact on their loved one’s daily routine.

The assessment document, which is named NURSING HOME ASSESSMENT BY RESIDENTS’ FRIENDS AND FAMILY, assesses the home’s performance in the areas of Quality of Life, Quality of Care, Nutrition, and Safety.

In September 2013 my two-year-old son Luke complained that it hurt when he peed. I took him to our GP and they said it was probably thrush or an infection and he was given antibiotics. After he peed out a lump I went back, but there wasn’t enough to test, and the GP didn’t think it was serious enough to refer him on at that point.

The pain went away, but it came back a month later, and our GP referred him to a consultant. But the appointment was four whole weeks away, which seemed like an eternity, and things got worse. It got to the point to where he couldn’t empty his bladder, and was straining until he was red in the face, veins popping out of his neck and screaming in agony on and off all day and all night. Me and my partner Tim were at our wits end and ended up going to A&E a number of times to try and get help for Luke sooner.

But at A&E the doctors we saw seemed really dismissive and acted like we were wasting their time. They thought it was constipation and they questioned his diet. Then they said it was a urine infection, and gave us more antibiotics. I didn’t feel listened to.

Every patient in hospital will be given an individual barcode to ensure they are given the correct drugs and treatment, as part of plans to make the NHS “paper free” by the end of the decade.

Under proposals to be outlined on Tuesday, patients will also be able to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and access their GP records using NHS smartphone apps.

The Government is also going to examine the feasibility of installing free wi-fi in every hospital and GP surgery in England. By 2020, NHS England says, it will have digitalised every patient and care record in the country – meaning that whenever patients come into contact with the health service, medics will have all of their clinical notes and test results available immediately. The changes will not apply in Scotland and Wales, but similar plans are being developed in the devolved regions.

In addition, patients, pieces of medical equipment and drugs will be identified using barcodes for the first time. This, it is claimed, will help to ensure that the right patient will be given the right drug, at the right dose and at the right time.

September 2015 will mark the fourth global World Alzheimer’s Month™, an international campaign to raise awareness and challenge stigma.

The theme for World Alzheimer’s Month 2015 is Remember Me. We’re encouraging people all around the world to learn to spot the signs of dementia, but also not to forget about loved ones who are living with dementia, or those who may have passed away. The impact of September’s campaign is growing, but the stigmatisation and misinformation that surrounds dementia remains a global problem.

CONCERNS have been raised after NHS doctors failed to inform an elderly patient that removing a cancerous lump would leave him with “extensive facial disfigurement”.

James Whitecross, 76, was referred to the ear, nose and throat clinic at Forth Valley Hospital in January 2014 after discovering a small swelling behind his left ear. Doctors discovered it was cancerous and told Whitecross he would need surgery at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow as most of the specialists were based there.

His daughter Lorna Tannock said the family were told it would be a minor procedure, but the result was a “mutilating surgery” which left her ­father unable to walk, eat properly or see in the initial weeks. Tannock, 40, said: “It looked like half of his face had been removed. I thought I was ­going to faint.”

The retired farmer had lost most of his left ear, and a 20cm flap of his cheek and neck had been completely cut away after the operation in March last year. He also had stitches in one eye and across his lips and a 38cm scar on his leg where a skin graft had been taken for his cheek.

The NHS trust that runs Walsall Manor Hospital has been ranked in the bottom 20 per cent in the country for staff suffering work-related stress, bullying and physical violence.

The results have emerged following a national NHS staff survey, organised by NHS England, which was carried out between October and December last year. Scores for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust deteriorated from 2013, with the trust ranking within the worst 20 per cent nationally in 12 out of 29 categories. In 2013, it ranked in the bottom fifth in six categories.

The percentage of staff saying that they had suffered work-related stress in the previous 12 months rose from 36 to 42 per cent in a year and the percentage reporting bullying, harassment and abuse from patients rose from 30 to 33 per cent. The willingness to recommend the Trust as a place to work fell from 58 to 47 per cent, whilst willingness to recommend the trust as a place for treatment fell from 56 to 48 per cent.

Chief executive Richard Kirby said it reflected the level of pressure on the trust over the last 12 months but added that measures were being taken to offer support and make improvements.

New figures show that the Department of Health has missed its own waiting list targets.

At the end of June, almost 86,000 patients had been waiting for more than 18 weeks for a first outpatient appointment. The target is for nobody to wait longer than that. The number of people waiting for a first appointment has risen by more than 45%.

The quarterly figures from the health department for April to June of this year revealed an 11% rise in patients waiting for a first outpatient appointment. That means more than 212,000 people have been referred to a specialist or consultant by their GP but have yet to be seen. Of those, the number of patients waiting longer – more than 18 weeks – increased by over 45% to nearly 86,000. The number of people waiting for diagnostic services, which can include a test for a potentially fatal illness, increased by nearly 12% from March to June.

Fourteen years on from the tragic death of her newborn daughter Elizabeth, grieving Anne Dixon is still seeking answers

A national healthcare regulator is undertaking a review into the care of newborn babies who need extra support after a Fleet woman tragically lost her baby.

Anne Dixon’s daughter Elizabeth was born at Frimley Park Hospital in 2000 and was brain damaged after her high blood pressure was not treated for 15 days. She was left disabled and needed a tracheostomy, or tube, to breathe, but suffocated and died at home in Church Crookham days before her first birthday, when her tube was not maintained during a home visit by an agency nurse who transpired to be newly-qualified.

Now, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is undertaking a national review into care for infants who need more support and how they are cared for both in hospital and by community services. It is the first time the body has used its powers to investigate a particular aspect of care across the NHS.Announcing the review, the CQC said it would examine 20 services across England, exploring how well fetal medicine, obstetrics, neonatal and community services work together to care for newborn babies with declining health problems, particularly those with high blood pressure and tracheostomies. The regulator said it did not expect the review, which will begin in September, to give a national picture of the quality of care, but hopes it will lead to development of clinical guidelines where needed.

But Mrs Dixon said she felt it did not stretch far enough and that an inquest into Elizabeth’s death, held in 2008/9, failed to get to the truth. She also said her concerns were ignored constantly and she felt she had been dubbed an “over-anxious mother”.

New figures show the number of patients complaining about cancelled appointments has risen by one fifth in a year

Complaints about cancelled and delayed NHS appointments have shot up by one fifth in a year, new figures show. Official data shows the number of patients raising concerns about appointments has risen from 9,040 in 2013/14 to 10,800 in 2014/15. There was a similar rise in complaints about ambulance services, the new figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show.

Experts said the figure could reflect the fact a number of ambulance services took over the running of the 111 “non-emergency” line. In total, 8,039 patients raised concerns with ambulance trusts, compared with 6,873 the previous year, an increase of 17 per cent in one year, the statistics show.

Overall, there were 205,000written complaints about NHS services in England in 2014/15 – 562 per day. The figures include 121,000 complaints about hospital services, up 5.7 per cent on the 114,000 in 2013/14.

The number in the Black Country, Staffordshire and Wyre Forest has fallen from 551 in 2013/14 to 471 in 2014/15, mirroring the trend across the country, where it dropped from 18,211 to 18,436.

But the Ombudsman saw a 10 per cent increase in complaints about adult care services. Meanwhile, complaints about benefits and tax dropped 11 per cent, and complaints about planning and development were down six per cent.

Of the 10 councils in the Black Country and Staffordshire areas, the ombudsman received the most complaints and enquiries regarding Sandwell Council. Of the 118 received, 19 were upheld, with 59 referred back for local resolution. The majority related to benefits and tax (33 complaints), with 24 regarding education and children’s services, 21 about housing, and 15 about adult care services. There had been 138 complaints the previous year.

Around 200,000 people a yearsuffer devastating health complications because of diabetes, a charity has warned – including amputations, heart attacks and strokes.

Diabetes UK said its study exposed a “postcode lottery” in care for people with the condition – and said there was an urgent need for the NHS to make improving services a priority.

Diabetes care costs the health service in the region of £8 billion a year – around 10 per cent of the entire NHS budget.

The charity’s chief executive Barbara Young said the figures were an “absolute tragedy”.

These complications have a devastating impact on people’s lives and are fuelling the high death rate in people with the condition, as well as meaning huge and often unnecessary costs to the NHS.

With the numbers of people with diabetes rising at an alarming rate, it is vital that the government and the NHS act urgently to end the postcode lottery of diabetes care and ensure that all people living with diabetes get the support and care they need to live long healthy lives.

In particular, the NHS must get better at giving people with diabetes the education they need to take control of their condition, and ensuring that everyone with the condition is getting their essential health checks, as they can help to identify problems before they develop into serious complications.

– BARBARA YOUNG, DIABETES UK

According to the National Diabetes Audit, carried out by the charity, 3.9 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with the condition – and this may rise to as many as five million in the next 10 years.

Most of those have type 2, which is often brought on by being overweight. The data also revealed that little more than a third – 36 per cent – of people with diabetes are controlling it well by keeping with the recommended levels of blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol.

Now the £34,000-a-year junior anaesthetist has received a signed two-page response from health minister Ben Gummer. But she’s not happy – claiming his reply doesn’t answer her questions and misses out key facts.

A RECORD number of hospital patients are being exposed to potentially harmful levels of radiation due to mistakes and faulty equipment.

There were 1,116 recorded incidents in 2014 in which a patient was exposed to too much radiation, which can cause burns, poisoning and lead to cancer. In three cases, a mistake by the operators caused patients undergoing tests to be exposed to more than 100 times the recommended level of radiation. In most cases, staff either set machines incorrectly, scanned the wrong part of a patient’s body, or, in some cases, the wrong patient. In just 13 cases, the overexposure was down to faulty equipment.

Radiation is employed in X-ray machines and scanners for diagnoses while targeted radiation is used to treat some cancers. Experts say that although the number of radiation errors is logged at more than 20 a week, the chance of such a blunder happening is about one in 81,000. Some of the errors in which a worker was to blame included 23 mammograms to seek breast cancer.

In total, 435 patients were overexposed, with 151 patients given the right exposure but on the wrong part of the body and in 517 cases the wrong patient was exposed. In 2013, there were 983 cases of overexposure.

Disillusioned medics are quitting the NHS and heading for countries such as Australia

Doctors who are newly qualified form a growing proportion of the thousands of British medics seeking jobs abroad each year, triggering concerns that the NHS is heading for a staffing crisis.

Specialist recruitment agencies and GPs’ leaders say doctors, many of whom have just finished their training, are becoming disillusioned with the state of their profession and seeking fresh starts in countries such as Australia, where they can earn double what they are paid in Britain. Figures given to the Observer by the General Medical Council show that an average of 2,852 certificates enabling British doctors to work abroad were issued annually between 2008 and 2014 – a total of 19,522.

So far this year the council has issued a further 2,008 certificates of good standing, the document that enables doctors to register with an overseas regulatory body or employer, taking the total who have applied to work overseas in the last eight years to almost 22,000. “Medicine is a global profession and the UK has long relied on doctors coming to work in the UK from other countries and some UK-trained doctors have taken the opportunity to experience working overseas,” said Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC.

In March 2014, at 37+1, I went into labour with our first daughter Clara. My waters didn’t break but we waited until my contractions were 2 minutes apart before setting off to the hospital. On arrival basic checks were carried out and we were advised to go home as labour with your first baby can take up to 24 hours. My daughter’s heartbeat was listened to once.

We were concerned and recorded the increasing frequency and length of each contraction ourselves. We did not feel we were listened to. We said that we didn’t want to be sent home but the midwife was determined she knew best and it took us 25 minutes to struggle back to the car. Within an hour we were back at the hospital and our daughter was born within minutes. There was no sound from Clara after she was born and emergency procedures were then followed. We were told after 30 minutes that resuscitation was unsuccessful and that Clara had been stillborn.

Around 80 per cent elect for surgery which can involve removal of breasts

But new research reveals doctors were ‘over-enthusiastic’ with operations

The risk of someone dying from DCIS is broadly same as a healthy woman

Thousands of women are having needless surgery for breast tumours which won’t harm them, researchers have warned.

Debilitating and distressing operations do not improve survival chances for patients with a common form of early breast cancer, a study found. Furthermore, patients with this type of the illness – considered a precursor to a more serious form – are no more likely to die than the general population. The Canadian research involving 108,100 women has prompted experts to warn doctors can be ‘over-enthusiastic’ with surgery.

In the UK, around 4,600 women a year are diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), whereby cells inside some of the milk ducts turn cancerous. About 80 per cent elect to have surgery, which involves either removal of the lump and surrounding tissue or one or both breasts in their entirety. But in the wake of the new research, Dr Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said it was clear treatment had been excessive.

It’s a wonder of modern science that, for at least some types of cancer, doctors are now able to exploit the unique genetic faults in a person’s tumour to treat their disease with precision drugs. These ‘targeted medicines’ are part of a new generation of cancer treatments that are revolutionising the way some patients are treated. Several of these types of drugs are already available on the NHS; more are on the way.

But not every patient’s tumour contains these faults. So to find out who could benefit from targeted drugs, patients need to be offered tests, known as ‘molecular’ diagnostic tests. But there’s a problem. These tests aren’t being offered to all patients equally across the NHS in England.

We’ve blogged before about this problem, and how we want the Government and NHS England to act.

But today, further highlighting the sad state of affairs, we’ve published a new report showing the extent of the problem in the NHS in England. The findings are stark: thousands of patients are missing out on tests entirely, some of whom may have gone on to receive a targeted medicine that could have helped them.

This is a long standing issue that needs to be rectified urgently. The recent cancer strategy recognises this, and recommends that NHS England “transform access” to these tests.

But after barmaid got up to get a blanket she saw head of foetus in bag

Nurse ‘snatched’ it and took it away – and hospital has since apologised

A mother-to-be who suffered a miscarriage was left ‘hysterical’ after hospital staff allegedly left the foetus in a plastic bag at the end of her bed following surgery.

Sarah Howard was told she had lost her baby eight weeks after becoming pregnant – and opted for the foetus to be surgically removed at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. But after the operation the 33-year-old barmaid claimed she got up to get a blanket and saw the head of the foetus in the bag – before a nurse ‘snatched’ it off her and quickly took it away.

Miss Howard, of Woodgate Valley, Birmingham, told the Birmingham Mail: ‘I wanted it to be something else, but I knew what it was. I was hysterical. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. ‘I was crying and took it to a nurse. It’s an image I’ll never forget. I can’t forgive the hospital for leaving the remains there like that.’

A locum doctor was paid £11,000 by an NHS trust for a single weekend shift – the highest sum on record. Despite being hired on a rate equivalent to £452 an hour to do a bank holiday weekend, the doctor was not even required to work.

County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust paid £10,852 for the services of the locum consultant from the agency Locum Vision, according to Freedom of Information disclosures. The doctor, who covered three 9am to 5pm shifts last Easter, was on call to respond to emergencies but none took place. The huge pay packet will raise more concerns about NHS waste and reliance on temporary workers. Trusts have spent £3.3billion in the past financial year on agency staff, contributing to a huge deficit.

Hospital: Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (above) flew in a doctor more than 4,000 miles from India to cover a weekend, while an agency nurse in Dumfries and Galloway was also paid £1,400 to work a single shift

One dementia patient at the home- aged 90- was left covered in sores and rashes in a cold room while others had bed sores and were not given medication

A crisis-hit care home faces closure following over a raft of damning failings – unless it makes rapid improvements. Stonedale Lodge Nursing and Residential Home, in Liverpool, has been labelled inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the lowest possible ranking – after it emerged that elderly residents suffered bedsores and were not given their medication.

The critical report – which exposed the 180-bed BUPA facility as being staffed below safe limits – is not the first time the care home has met with negative headline,the Liverpool Echo reports. The ECHO today looks back at the shameful incidents which put Stonedale, which was recently banned from taking on any new residents after seven employees were suspended amid allegations of poor care practices, in the public spotlight.

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has attacked the idea that bearing excruciating pain while terminally ill is a “noble thing”, in a message of support for the Assisted Dying Bill.

In a video for campaign group Dignity in Dying Lord Carey insisted it was “profoundly Christian” to allow people to end their lives if they wished to do so, The Daily Telegraph reported. The House of Commons is to debate the Assisted Dying Bill next month. Under the proposals, lethal drugs could be given to patients with less than six months to live if this was their “clear and settled intention” and two doctors agreed.

‘I compiled a report detailing the poor clinical practices but after I handed this in, my working relationship with the management at Yarl’s Wood deteriorated massively. I felt I was being marginalised and bullied by senior staff. It would have been easier to keep quiet about what I was experiencing but I knew I couldn’t do that and so I also raised a grievance about the bullying’ Noel Finn

This week’s report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) into Yarl’s Wood detention centre raised many issues about healthcare, systems failures, and a disbelief of detainees’ stories which are only too familiar to me.

I worked at Yarl’s Wood between 2012 to 2013 as a mental health nurse. Almost immediately after arriving I had concerns about the mental health of the residents and when I first raised these with management they appeared to acknowledge my worries. But things didn’t improve. I was the only dedicated mental health professional for over 400 potential patients. The other nurses (including other mental health nurses) were focused on physical care and had more of an administration role – checking residents were fit for deportation.

Many of the issues I noticed at Yarl’s Wood were similar to those I had seen at other locked institutions, however I had never seen the same level of sexual undercurrent in the way officers interacted with residents as I did there.

Sick, sick sick… And when you think you have heard it all before. What is our world coming to with such sick and evil people in the world, Joanna

***

A PERVERTED careworker who filmed herself sexually assaulting vulnerable elderly patients at a care home has been jailed for ten years.

Christina Sethi, 25, preyed upon dementia sufferers – the oldest of which was 101 – in an attempt to get away with her depraved attacks. The carer admitted five counts of sexual assault.

She had filmed the incidents and sent them to her boyfriend, with the abuse coming to light after a man who bought her computer found deleted videos of the attacks. Plymouth Crown Court heard Sethi filmed herself using a vibrator on a female dementia victim, aged in her 80s, and fondled the naked breast and genitalia of a female 101 year old. The video of the abuse lasted seven and a half minutes and the victim could be heard complaining to the carer, saying: “What are you doing to me?” The attacks she filmed were on two of the care home’s most vulnerable residents.

Police said that although the victim in her 80s was unable to complain due to her dementia, she knew something was happening to her. Sethi – who had no previous convictions – also sexually assaulted a blind dementia sufferer, married and in his eighties, when she stroked his penis after washing him. One of the elderly victims, resident at a South Devon care home which cannot be named for legal reasons, has since died.

Distressed elderly residents were forced out of their failing care home in the middle of the night when it was shut over safety fears.

Some were dehydrated and crying in agony as they waited outside up to seven hours for belongings to be stuffed in bin bags and ambulances to arrive. The Old Village School Nursing Home in Bedfordshire was closed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on Friday night after inspectors uncovered appalling neglect that put residents in immediate danger. But the watchdog only obtained a closure order from magistrates at 5pm that evening and the home had to be evacuated by midnight. The 57 residents – including younger adults with brain injuries – were moved to nearby care homes in ambulances.

Anne Jeffreys, 87, was still in hospital last night after suffering heart problems during the move. Her nephew Greg Jeffreys, 59, of Bedford, said: ‘When I visited the home what I witnessed were scenes of absolute carnage. They got the court order to evacuate by midnight and the situation rapidly descended. It was like something out of a Third World country.’

Mr Jeffreys, chief executive of an audio equipment supply firm, said: ‘The street outside was full of very ill, highly distressed residents who were left to sit in their wheelchairs for hours with no bed pans. There were residents and their relatives crying in the street. ‘In my aunt’s case, her catheter bag needed changing and she was screaming in agony while one carer tried to rush her out during the evacuation. By that point her heartbeat became irregular and we feared she might die. She has been severely traumatised and damaged by the whole experience. ‘I cannot understand how, for the sake of maybe one or two hours, they had to stage a full-scale Third World evacuation.’

CARE home residents were moved out after a damning inspection report raised fears for their safety.

Southend Council decided to remove residents from Chadwick Lodge Residential Home in Chadwick Road, Westcliff, after it was placed placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission. Inspectors from the Government watchdog released a report saying the home was inadequate in safety, effectiveness, care and leadership after an unannounced inspection.

The commission was called in after Southend Council raised concerns and found poor training, neglectful care, unexplained injuries and even the hiring convicted criminals without proper checks – one of which had been suspended while the council investigated allegations against them.

Allegations of abuse in care homes are being made at almost double the rate they were four years ago, with an average of 150 now being reported every day, according to figures from the Care Quality Commission.

In 2011, around 30,000 allegations were reported to the regulator by providers of adult social care. More than 27,000 of those came from care homes. In the first six months of this year, just over 30,000 abuse allegations were already reported to the CQC. Nearly 24,000 occurred in care homes.

The data was released following a Freedom of Information request by The Observer newspaper, which also interviewed the CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care, Andrea Sutcliffe. Ms Sutcliffe told the paper that the figures showing more allegations being reported were indicative of care providers and those using the services being increasingly aware of the need to notify authorities aboutpotential abuse. But she did say she was concerned by the “kind of increase there has been, the numbers of people directly affected”, and that 125 more CQC inspectors were now being recruited to help tackle the issue. Cuts in funding and a lack of political leadership had helped to create a sector that was now under “stress and strain”, said Ms Sutcliffe.

Figures published today show the worst hospitals scoring just 42 in 100

They show a huge variation between the worst and best, which scored 98

Some hospitals had even failed to install hand rails to prevent harmful falls

Nurses have warned many A & E units have become ‘places of terror’

Hospitals are failing dementia patients by not doing enough to prevent them becoming distressed or suffering harm, official figures show. Wards are often too noisy, unfamiliar and frightening, or cluttered with bedside tables and chairs which can cause serious falls. Figures published yesterday show that the worst hospital scored only 42 out of 100 in terms of how well it was set up to care for patients with dementia.

Many had failed to install handrails to prevent falls or put up clear signs so patients did not get lost, and some were deemed to be too clinical and unwelcoming. Up to a quarter of patients in hospital have dementia. Many become extremely distressed when in such unfamiliar surroundings. Nurses recently warned that A&E units have become ‘places of terror’ for sufferers.

Hospital managers were urged to make wards more ‘dementia-friendly’ under a strategy launched by David Cameron in 2012. Health bosses were told to take measures to prevent patients falling over or becoming distressed. The Daily Mail has long campaigned for an improvement in the care for patients with dementia as part of our Dignity for the Elderly campaign.

The government’s pledge to change the way midwives have been regulated for more than 100 years is momentous and will improve the safety of mothers and babies.

This landmark decision came as a result of families making complaints to the parliamentary and health service ombudsman after going through agonising ordeals with their loved ones during pregnancy and childbirth. We all owe them a debt of gratitude as their actions will help improve maternity services for mothers and babies in the future.

Our casework found that the lives of mothers and babies could be put at risk because supervisors of midwives currently have two inherently conflicting roles. When things go wrong, senior midwives are responsible for investigating incidents involving midwives on behalf of the regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, while being responsible for the development and support of midwives, some of whom may be their peers.

Patients caught superbugs in city hospital wards after the private firm paid £200 million to clean them failed to do its job properly.

The number of hospital beds out of action due to outbreaks of viruses almost doubled under the care of Carillion, which has a contract to maintain the City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre. A decontamination unit has now been set up by NHS bosses and dirty wards are being deep-cleaned. Nurses are also being trained to do more cleaning. But patients say the news, published in a report by Nottingham Hospitals University Trust, is “beyond belief”.

David Jones, chairman of Nottingham Pensioners’ Action Group, said two of the group’s members had recently contracted infections while in hospital. He said: “This is a major concern. It’s quite worrying that we’ve had two members who have had problems recently where they have been in hospital and caught infections; it takes a long time to recover. “Members have been worried about the fact that it has gone out to private contract because companies need to keep that profitability. This is the effect that we are seeing now. “We expect the contract to be met, considering all the money they are being given.”

The NHS has given the go-ahead for trials involving specially trained dogs capable of sniffing out prostate cancer.

The charity Medical Detection Dogs has gained approval from Milton Keynes University Hospital for further trials, after an initial study showed specially trained dogs can detect prostate tumours in urine in 93% of cases.

It is hoped canine testing could help show up inaccuracies in the traditional Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, used to determine if men need a biopsy. The test has a high “false positive” rate, and many men are unnecessarily referred for the invasive procedure. Iqbal Anjum, a consultant urologist at the hospital, said the study was “an extremely exciting prospect”.

We would like to make clear that the article published by the Daily Telegraph, ‘Tesco can see your medical records’ contains a number of inaccuracies.

The Summary Care Record (SCR) is used by healthcare professionals, on explicit consent of the patient, to support direct patient care. While a regulated healthcare professional may have secure, controlled access to the SCR in a pharmacy within a supermarket as with any other pharmacy setting, this information is not accessible by other means and will never be available to supermarkets for other purposes, such as marketing. The information can only be accessed through a secure, encrypted private network by authorised, regulated pharmacy professionals who have been carefully granted a pin-protected access card.

If a pharmacy professional shared confidential patient information for any purpose other than direct care, they can be held liable in law and held to account by the General Pharmaceutical Council, which has the legal authority to apply sanctions, up to and including withdrawal of their license to practice. There are specific processes in place which means accesses to SCR are monitored to make sure they are appropriate and are only made for patients when there is a clinical need.

NHS England commissioned the Health and Social Care Information Centre to complete a pilot project which enabled 140 pharmacies to access SCR. A report of the findings from this project, which the article states has been ‘seen by the Daily Telegraph’ demonstrates significant benefits to patients, pharmacy and general practice. The report was made public on our website on 23 June 2015:http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/scr/library/poc_report.pdf

The complaints to Walsall Manor chief executive Richard Kirby were made during the 2014/15 financial year.

The main causes were clinical care, assessment and treatment, waiting time and discharge arrangement. The annual report from Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has shown there were 380 written complaints direct to the chief executive. Health chiefs say they aim to respond within 30 days and have already made some changes. These include more staff working in the outpatient booking office, extra clinics and working in partnership with social services.

The annual report said: “In 2014/15 we responded to 60.4 per cent of complainants within 30 working days. Since November 2014, the average number of complaints responded to within 30 working days has improved significantly to 86.2 per cent. “We will be working to improve the response rate still further over the next 12 months. “We have fully embraced the parliamentary and health service ombudsman’s vision for ‘good; complaint handling which was published in November 2014 following widespread consultation with patients and social care users. “Our complaints handling process is quality assured to ensure the complainant has the opportunity to be engaged in the complaint process from the beginning, and is fully informed of any lessons learned and changes made as a result of an investigation.”

But cards are being given to any EU citizens who says they are living in UK

Eastern Europeans using them in home country to make NHS cover costs

Undercover Hungarian journalist Ani Horvath obtained card after visiting UK for one day

Foreigners are billing the NHS for expensive healthcare they receive in their own countries, a Daily Mail investigation can reveal. Under an extraordinary legal loophole, migrants are able to charge the full cost of medical treatment in their home countries to the UK, even if they have never paid a penny of tax in Britain.

They do this by obtaining European Health Insurance Cards from the NHS. The cards were intended for British people to use in cases of emergency while on holiday and entitle them to charge the NHS for the cost of any medical treatment they might urgently need while overseas within Europe. But the NHS is handing out more than five million of these EHIC cards for free every year – and keeping no record of how many are being given to foreigners.

The cards are given out freely to any EU citizens who says they are living in the UK, even if they haven’t actually worked or paid any tax here. As a result, Eastern Europeans can obtain the cards, then return to their home countries and use them to have medical treatment they would usually have to pay for funded by the NHS. And because the cards last for five years, they are worth a fortune to migrants with ongoing conditions, or who have multiple pregnancies and births.

Daily Mail investigation into foreigners being able to use the European Health Insurance Card easily in their own countries.Hungarian woman, Annamaria Horvath attempts to use her British issued, EHIC card in various clinics around Budapest.

A new era in the war on cancer is being delayed by NHS red tape, experts have warned.

Nivolumab – a groundbreaking lung cancer drug that could extend the lives of thousands – is being launched in the UK for the first time today. But NHS patients will be denied access to the drug for at least a year – and potentially far longer – as bureaucrats decide how to pay for it. Experts last night called for a complete overhaul to the way cancer drugs are funded on the NHS, claiming poor access to cutting-edge treatments is one reason why the UK’s cancer survival rates lag behind other nations.

Professor Paul Workman, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research,said: ‘The system is at breaking point. This will only get worse as fantastic cancer research science offers increasing opportunities for highly innovative and effective new drugs. ‘Having these individual battles on each drug is wasting a huge amount of everyone’s time.’

There are 44,000 new cases of lung cancer in Britain each year, making it the country’s second-most common cancer – but survival rates in England are way behind those of Norway, Australia, Sweden and Canada. Nivolumab is licensed for an advanced form of the disease called non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, which affects a third of all lung cancer patients.

He was provided with useless prosthetics after losing both legs in 2010

Mr Smith, who competed in the Invictus Games, said he feels ‘abandoned’

NHS delays are leaving badly wounded Afghanistan veterans wheelchair-bound because many are having to wait months for prosthetic legs that actually fit properly, it has emerged. The girlfriend of one injured soldier accused doctors of ‘sheer incompetence’ after providing her partner with prosthetic limbs that are effectively useless. Clive Smith, who competed in the Invictus Games for injured veterans, has been confined to a wheelchair for eight months while he waits for his new limbs to be refitted.

The 29-year-old, who lost both his legs in 2010 while on a mine-clearing patrol in Helmand province, with 33 Engineer Regiment, says he feels ‘abandoned by the NHS’. ‘It’s been tough. I’ve been a full-time prosthetics user for four years and now I’m wheelchair bound,’ he said. ‘We were told we would get the same level of care for my prosthetics on the NHS, but it just hasn’t been.’

The BMJ’s social networking site, doc2doc, has just published an e-book that resulted from an online discussion on how to survive as a junior doctor. Here is a selection of tips. Download the whole e-book for free at at http://doc2doc.bmj.com.

Ministers will have to consider charging patients for seeing a GP, attending A&E, and using the food, power and water of hospitals, unless better long-term solutions for funding the NHS can be found, public finance experts have warned. Contributions towards the cost of treatments and patients taking out health insurance are among other options that must be on the table if the comprehensive spending review in November fails to address the issue, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance (Cipfa) says in a briefing.

The document says that the hope of NHS leaders to save £22bn over five years to 2020-21 is optimistic and does not take account of David Cameron’s pledge to increase seven-day services nor of the introduction of the new national living wage. Other general aspirations, such as making the UK a “world leader” in tackling cancer and dementia and raising spending on mental health, have not been explicitly costed either, Cipfa says.

“On high death rates, failing hospitals and whistleblowing, we are calling time on the cover-up culture, and ushering in a new era of transparency”[1]

So promised Jeremy Hunt in February this year. However, Hunt’s latest moves have shown that his rhetoric is not to be matched by real protection for whistleblowers.

Instead, he’s plumped forlocal ‘Freedom to Speak Up Guardians’, and a ‘National Guardian’. [2] [3] [4] This is very bad news for whistleblowers and for transparency. There is no evidence base for the Guardian model [5], and in our opinion it has been designed to fail.

The plan now adopted by Hunt was first presented in February’s Freedom to Speak Up Review into NHS whistleblowing. It was published by Sir Robert Francis QC – the man previously hired to report into the failings of care at Mid Staffordshire and to devise a plan to ensure they never happened again. One of the key findings of the landmark 2013 Francis report into Mid Staffs was that staff were too scared to report poor care. Francis pressed for criminal sanctions against whistleblower suppression. [6] But disappointingly in his new whistleblowing review, Francis rejected criminal sanctions.

A HOSPITAL’S decision to re-hire its medical director on a bumper salary just one month after he started claiming his £1.9million pension “beggars belief”, according to a health watchdog.

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals trust director, BasilFozard, retired on May 31. He was believed to be earning around £130,000 in addition to £85,000 for surgical work. His pension pot is thought to be worth £1.9million. However on July 1 Mr Fozard, who first joined the trust in 1992, was re-hired as medical director on a salary circa £20,000 higher than before – £152,000 – while continuing to claim his pension.

The day after the 59-year-old retired, health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced measures to close the loophole. His department has now said it will regulate the practice of re-hiring retired personnel and has contacted the trust asking for an explanation. Manager of Healthwatch Dorset, Martyn Webster, said the community deserves better, adding: “At a time when the average pay of hard working nurses on the front line of the NHS has actually fallen in the past year, and a time when we’re being told that health services in Dorset need to change because otherwise there’ll be a funding gap of anything up to £200 million a year, if this story is true, then it beggars belief.”

NHS trusts have been told by Monitor, the health service regulator, to fill vacancies “only where essential” as it warned that current financial plans are “quite simply unaffordable”.

In a letter to NHS trusts, Monitor’s chief executive David Bennett warned of an “almost unprecedented financial challenge” as he said no stone should be left unturned to find savings. Bennett wrote in the letter, which was seen by the Health Service Journal, that financial forecasts for 2015-16 are unsustainable as he called for greater savings. The HSJ has reported recently that the provider sector has forecast a deficit of £2bn in 2015-16.

In his letter, Bennett wrote: “As you know, the NHS is facing an almost unprecedented financial challenge this year. Current plans are quite simply unaffordable. As I have said before, if we are to do the best we can for patients we must leave no stone unturned in our collective efforts to make the money we havego as far as possible.

“We are already reviewing and challenging the plans of the 46 foundation trusts with the biggest deficits. However, it is clear that this process will not close the funding gap and so we need all providers – even those planning for a surplus this year – to look again at their plans to see what more can be done.” Bennett added: “Ministers have been sighted on these options and are ready to support all providers to reduce their deficits in a managed way although, of course, all actions should be consistent with your responsibilities for safety and the delivery of constitutional standards.”

Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said: “This is a sign of a serious deterioration in NHS finances. It suggests that the financial crisis in the NHS is threatening to spiral out of control and hit standards of patient care.

“The suggestion that hospitals can ignore safe staffing guidance will alarm patients and the government must decide if it will overrule this advice. It will raise further questions about how the government can possibly fulfil commitments on a seven-day NHS without the money to back it up.”

Research shows that hospitals in the UK have one of the worst records in the industrialised world for leaving surgical instruments in patients after surgery

British hospitals are among the worst in the Western world for leaving surgical instruments in the body after surgery, international research has found. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that the UK has the sixth worst record for foreign bodies after surgery, with 5.5 cases per 100,000 people discharged from hospital. The rate is three times that of Poland, with 1.9 cases per 100,000 patients, and twice that of Slovenia, at 2.9 cases per 100,000. Such incidents are classed by the NHS as “never events” because they are should be avoided by systems of checks.

Leaving foreign bodies in patients increases the risk of deadly infections and other complications, and can result in fatal blood poisoning and organ failure. In the year 2014/15, there were 102 such cases in England, latest data shows

The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which enforces the pharmaceutical industry’s code of practice, called on industry figures to pass on complaints to help it “deal with these issues and problems”. The body’s director, Heather Simmonds, suggested the problem involved more officials than those exposed by this newspaper. She said it had already dealt with several cases where individuals present at “advisory board” meetings between drugs companies and NHS officials had raised concerns with the regulator about the events.

Her appeal came after this newspaper last week exposed how senior health staff who help decide which drugs are used by GPs and hospitals are being paid to work as consultants for pharmaceutical companies who want the National Health Service to “switch” to medicines they produce.

Many of the meetings take place in five-star hotels around the world, with some attendees telling this newspaper that they were taken to “flashy” restaurants and paid large sums while considering whether to “switch” drugs.

One of the first medics to raise concerns about the now discredited Liverpool Care Pathway says new protocols to replace it are more dangerous, and could hasten patients’ deaths

New NHS guidelines on “end of life” care are worse than the Liverpool Care Pathway and could push more patients to an early grave, a leading doctor has warned. Prof Patrick Pullicino, one of the first medics to raise concerns over the pathway, said the national proposals would encourage hospital staff to guess who was dying, in the absence of any clear evidence, and to take steps which could hasten patients’ death.

The Liverpool Care Pathway – which meant fluids and treatment could be withdrawn, and sedation given to the dying – was officially phased out last year, on the orders of ministers. It followed concern that under the protocols, thirsty patients had been denied water and left desperately sucking at sponges.

Its beggars belief that we keep on seeing these shocking photo’s and stories of complete and utter neglect. How any human being can be left and treated in such an inhumane way. Joanna

***

Daughter claims her tragic 69-year-old mum was left in a disgusting condition as carers “neglected her and took away her dignity”

A devastated woman has ­accused care workers of negligence following the death of her mum – who was left lying in a urine-soaked bed for eight days. Margot Green, 69, was being visited by carers at her home twice daily but one day pressed her emergency alarm and was rushed to hospital. Doctors at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton found the pensioner was in agony with ammonia burns. Although medics confirmed she had an infection, she was too frail to have more tests and died four days later.

Daughter Corrin Garland, 43, says she returned to her mum’s house and was horrified to find it in a “disgusting” condition. Margot’s bed was covered in urine and faeces and Corrin claims she had not been showered for three weeks. Corrin has now made an official ­complaint to Way Ahead Care, who ­provided Margot with two half-hour care visits each day for £35 a week.

NICE’s decision to keep its safe staffing guidance under lock and key raises several questions, and so far the reasons for the delay have been nebulous and without detail. HSJ calls on NICE, NHS England and the DH to publish it without delay

‘NICE’s U-turn could tarnish its international reputation for independence’

This is a bad decision for a number of reasons.

Questions about whether NICE was pressured into its U-turn from outside risk tarnishing the organisation’s international reputation for independence. The work is taxpayer funded and could potentially be used to plan services ahead of winter.

Health officials have pulled out of publishing recommendations on safe staffing after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt gave the responsibility to the newly-formed NHS Improvement body.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) was going to go ahead with publishing them anyway, but announced tonight it would not do so. Chief executive Andrew Dillon said: “The work on safe staffing will now be taken forward by the newly-formed NHS Improvement, in conjunction with NHS England.

“The conclusions reached by our advisory committee on safe nurse staffing in accident and emergency departments will now become part of a wider review.

Bureaucratic systems are like the worst kind of artificial intelligence.

They are programmed to protect themselves and have no empathy or humanity as a counter balance. Why would they – they are simply self-serving machines.

You could take almost any organisation, but for argument let us take the health service. The system is dysfunctional. Good in many respects and sometimes excellent, it is incapable of critical analysis, so any error or mismanagement is just perpetuated by the system.

There could be a number of triggers for change, but the system has them all covered.

Internal: When members of staff speak out about unsafe practices they become whistle blowers and the system knows just how to contain this attack. First discredit the individual in order to discredit the message. Conduct a witch hunt to unearth false evidence and drive the person to resignation through stress related illness. Enemy of the system…

Kayleigh Compton died after being treated at Peterborough City Hospital

The 23-year-old had lost six stone in eight months before being admitted

Doctors failed to note weight loss and did not offer feeding tube on arrival

She died a month later after being placed in a medically induced coma

A mother has released harrowing photographs of her daughter wasting away in hospital after doctors failed to notice her severe malnutrition. Kayleigh Compton died in hospital after plummeting to less than five stone in just one year. The 23-year-old had developed a condition which made her sick every time she ate. Doctors at Peterborough City Hospital carried out a malnutrition test when she was first admitted but it failed to give an accurate assessment of her condition.

When the correct reading was obtained doctors assumed her malnutrition was the result of an eating disorder despite the aspiring photographer’s protestations. She refused a feeding tube for weeks, failing to understand that another condition may have caused her to become so malnourished. Miss Compton eventually died after being placed in a medically induced coma having collapsed.

Accused of wanting to cover up broader failings at the Clementine Churchill Hospital

Britain’s biggest private healthcare firm concealed an internal report that identified ‘systemic failings’ at one of its hospitals where a patient died after a routine knee operation, a Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal. The hospital’s owner, BMI Healthcare, heaped blame for the death of a retired builder on one of its surgeons, David Sellu. He was convicted at the Old Bailey of gross negligence manslaughter and jailed for two and a half years, ending a 40-year career described by colleagues as ‘exemplary’.

James Hughes had complained of stomach pains after the operation and died just over a week later of cardiac arrest following a ruptured bowel while he was under the care of Mr Sellu. The Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report ordered by BMI into what went wrong was hidden from Mr Sellu’s trial in 2013. Documents obtained by this newspaper reveal that BMI executives not only read the report, but were taking advice from the firm’s lawyers on its ‘status’.

Last night, Peter McDonald, a senior colorectal consultant at London’s world famous St Mark’s Hospital, told this newspaper in an exclusive interview that he considers BMI made Mr Sellu a ‘scapegoat’ for the broader failings at the Clementine Churchill Hospital in North-West London.

In the NHS, students are at the bottom of the pile with little voice. It’s time the health service acknowledged that they can help improve services

I am a diagnostic radiographer; one of the allied health professions often forgotten by the public and media in a world where the NHS seems to consist of only doctors and nurses. Diagnostic radiographers often see tens, if not hundreds, of new patients each day. We get very little time with our patients; it can take as little as two minutes to complete a chest x-ray. During this time, we are expected to build a relationship of trust with our patient to enable us to get the best possible image while ensuring that the patient is cared for. It is a difficult balance to achieve but one that is vitally important. That two minute x-ray could be a life changing event; something that is easy to forget when you are x-raying the chests of over 100 people each day.

It isn’t as easy to forget for student radiographers though. I am currently a senior lecturer in diagnostic radiography and my students spend 50% of their three-year degree on placement in imaging departments. First year students generally aren’t used to the healthcare environment and tend to view it as a member of the public would. This means that they notice things that radiographers, through familiarity, no longer see. Students should, therefore, be used as an early warning system – someone on the inside looking with an outsiders eyes.

Every day Sarah Long becomes weaker. She cannot sleep for more than an hour at a time, loses concentration and struggles to speak. “I don’t have much longer,” she says with a remarkable lack of self-pity. At 44, she is by far the oldest person to have Morquio syndrome, an extremely rare degenerative impairment, caused by missing enzymes, that has stopped her from growing since the age of six.

Most people with the syndrome die in their teens from a heart attack or because their lungs fail. Only 88 people in England – and 160 worldwide – are known to have the syndrome and barely a handful have made it into their 30s. Long has earned her surname. But, then, since she lost her mother when she was a teenager, she has been nothing if not strong-willed. She puts her longevity down to “bloodymindedness, a strong heart, determination – that was something my mum taught me”.

Not only did she go on to defy every medical prediction and reach her 40s, she took a degree in sociology, then a master’s, and is now in the middle of studying for a PhD. It was the same determination that in 2012 made her choose to test a free trial of a drug called Vimizim. She had spent eight months laid low with pneumonia, a period in which she says she “didn’t function”, and felt going on the trial was worth the gamble.

A drive to make more one-stop shops for urgent and emergency care will be announced on Friday as the NHS in England seeks to remedy its failure to meet its target for dealing with 95% of A&E patients within four hours last winter.

NHS England announced eight “vanguard” areas to transform services. Among the measures are the acceleration of the development of GP services in hospitals, mobile treatment centres using ambulance staff, and same-day crisis response teams including GP’s and other acute home-visiting professionals. More mental health street triage services will also be rolled out, along with initiatives involving a broader role for community pharmacists.

The moves, designed to break down barriers between primary care and hospitals, are among £200m worth of experiments. The NHS hopes these will be as successful as the setting up of regional major trauma units three years ago, which are said to have brought about a 50% increase in the odds of survival for patients and saved hundreds of lives.

HEALTH chiefs have been forced to apologise to a patient who was sent home with painkillers twice by doctors who failed to notice she was suffering from a brain abscess.

The patient, known only as Miss C, was referred to the outpatient clinic at St John’s Hospital in Livingston in September 2013 after complaining to her GP of severe headaches, problems with her vision and vomiting. But medics failed to spot the agonising build-up of pus on her brain and she was sent home twice with only ibuprofen and co-codamol. A scan later revealed the problem and the patient had to undergo emergency surgery at the Western General Hospital, before a further operation to drain the abscess.

Ombudsman Jim Martin has now ordered NHS Lothian to apologise for its delay in diagnosis, which “may have led to a more serious outcome and unnecessary prolonged pain and distress”.

Pills costing just 5p a day could save the lives of thousands of breast cancer sufferers, according to research. Drugs used to prevent bone thinning slash the risk of dying from tumours by 20 per cent, researchers found. They say that if the pills – called bisphosphonates – were routinely given to women with breast cancer they would prevent 1,300 deaths a year and ‘several thousands’ within a decade. But campaigners say there is a danger the drugs will remain ‘sitting on the shelf’ in chemists because NHS red tape prevents doctors from routinely prescribing them for breast cancer.

Bisphosphonates are currently only ‘licensed’ – passed as safe – to be used for osteoporosis and for some women whose cancer has weakened the bone. Campaigners are urging the Government and the NHS to change the guidelines to enable doctors to routinely offer them to all women diagnosed with breast cancer after the menopause.

The Health Foundation and The King’s Fund both support the concept of a Transformation Fund for the NHS in England. The two organisations came together to undertake a programme of work detailing the key aspects of such a fund.

Making change possible: a Transformation Fund for the NHS draws on analysis conducted by the two organisations, in particular six case studies of funding transformation, in the health sector and beyond, along with examples of local NHS initiatives. We also captured the experience of NHS leaders and some of those organisations across the NHS that have been at the forefront of efforts to implement changes in the delivery of care.

Appendices to the report give more details of the work underpinning it.

Appendix 1 provides full information about the case studies.

Appendix 2 explains the methodology used to calculate the size of the Fund and gives details of the local NHS examples of change that we examined.

Appendix 3 looks at the potential for realising value from surplus NHS estate.

Healthcare providers face fines for missing the national four-hour target for all emergency departments to conclude 95% of cases. But covert footage has suggested doctors are discharging patients when they near the limit. They continue to receive treatment later on, but off the books. Suzanne Mason, professor of Emergency medicine at the University of Sheffield, said: “By discharging somebody off your system before they’ve left the department, there’s a huge risk something could happen to that patient.”

The month-long probe by ITV’s Exposure, presented by Mark Austin was broadcast on Wednesday night 22nd July which exposed major concerns at Care UK’s 24-hour Ealing Urgent Care Centre, West London.

One doctor told an undercover reporter he discharged a patient to meet the target. He said: “It’s all… playing the game. I’ve discharged her, but I’m still dealing with her. So as far as statistics are concerned she was discharged within four hours.” Two days later, the same doctor said he had discharged another patient before treatment finished. He added: “It happens a lot.”

Care UK said both the firm and doctor “refuted any suggestion patients have been discharged before treatment is complete”. The probe into Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s NHS also revealed patients were given thermometers to take their temperature, to determine which were seen first. Care UK, which had a turnover of more than £700million last year, said “this does not appear to be good practice”, and it “will undertake any retraining necessary.” Other alleged failings included empty medicine cabinets, and work experience students being told to check up on patients when staff were busy. Care UK said: “Stocks of medications are monitored closely.” It added students should not have been asked to check up on patients.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association says the app could help offset problems caused by the loss of medical notes, and adds: “Notes going missing is a big problem – they frequently go missing and are not with patients when they have appointments, so to have an app that records your information will be really useful.”

The health and care reforms came into operation on 1st April 2013. They reshaped the NHS to give patients a stronger voice and give doctors, nurses and elected councillors more power to decide how best to use local resources to significantly improve services and patients’ health. The National Audit Office subsequently reported that the transition to the reformed health system was successfully implemented and the savings in administration costs would far outweigh the implementation costs. The Department of Health originally forecast the total cost of transition to be £1.5 billion. On publication of the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15, I can today announce that the actual costs to 31 March 2015 are £1.38 billion, and total costs are forecast to be under £1.43 billion.

Eagerly awaited data on the most promising drug in treating Alzheimer’s disease is set to be unveiled later today

Patients and scientists hope it could become the first medication to slow the pace of brain decline. The decline in Alzheimer’s is unstoppable – drugs can help with symptoms, but nothing prevents the inexorable death of brain cells.

Hints at the drug’s effectiveness will be outlined, but Solanezumab* has been the great hope of dementia research. It targets deformed proteins called amyloid that build up in the brain during Alzheimer’s. It is thought the formation of sticky plaques of amyloid between nerve cells leads to damage and eventually brain cell death.

One million NHS patients are re-admitted to hospital as emergency cases within 30 days of discharge after being ‘rushed out of the door’, report finds

The misery endured by patients because of the NHS’s “revolving door” policy of early discharge and emergency re-admission is exposed for the first time today in a scathing report. One million NHS patients are re-admitted to hospital as emergency cases within 30 days of discharge because they are being “rushed out of the door” too quickly, at a cost of £2.4 billion per year.

Healthwatch England said it had gathered “thousands of shocking stories” about patients being sent home without the right care and support. They included a mentally ill man discharged after a suicide attempt with no follow-up care who killed himself a week later. The NHS’s official watchdog concluded that “an undercurrent of ageism” persists within the NHS, and that some of the most vulnerable people in society – pensioners, the homeless and the mentally ill – are being badly let down.

A SCOTTISH doctor who was planning his retirement after an unblemished 40-year career has been struck off in disgrace after he slapped a patient who had become abusive in a hospital A&E department.

Consultant Dominic McCreadie, 64, used his right hand to hit the 66-year-old in the face after he lost his temper when the pensioner began struggling violently and swearing at him whilst receiving treatment. The unnamed patient, who had been flailing his arms around whilst being given an injection, was said to have “calmed down” after being slapped. But McCreadie was reported by a junior colleague who witnessed the incident and described the medic’s actions as “inappropriate”. He was subsequently quizzed by police under caution and during an interview with officers admitted: “I accept that I was frustrated and exasperated by this patient.”

At a fitness to practise hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, McCreadie, formerly of Glasgow, now of Warwick, agreed to “voluntary erasure” from the General Medical Council register after being found guilty of misconduct.

A junior doctor’s furious letter to David Cameron over the Government’s plans to overhaul the NHS has won the support of thousands.

Janis Burns, 26, who works at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, challenged the Prime Minister to attempt to treat a patient “on the brink of death” after a long stint of night shifts. “You try managing that after you’ve been up all night and then tell me the NHS isn’t 24 hours 7 days a week 365 days a year,” she wrote in the letter which has now been shared more than 80,000 times on Facebook.

She also accused Heath Secretary Jeremy Hunt of “deliberately attacking” the profession and being “hell bent” on convincing the public that doctors do not provide a seven-day service. Burns – who reportedly tried to hand deliver the letter to Number 10 after coming off a weekend of graveyard shifts – wrote the letter in reaction to the ongoing row over the UK’s NHS service.

40% of possible transplants don’t happen because it hasn’t been discussed

1,092 made possible by living donors who gave kidney or part of their liver

The number of organ transplants in Britain dropped last year for the first time in more than a decade. Transplants fell from 4,655 in 2013 to 4,431 in 2014, a fall of 5 per cent, and the first drop in 11 years, NHS figures show. The latest statistics show 1,092 were made possible by living donors who gave a kidney or part of their liver. The remaining 3,339 patients benefited from organs donated after death. Some 40 per cent of possible transplants do not take place because too few people discuss with their families the donation of their organs after they die. As a result, relatives refuse to give consent following their death, NHS bosses say.

Experts want the rules changed so people must opt out of the donor register instead of opting in – an option being adopted in Wales this year. The British Heart Foundation says the whole nation should follow suit.

There has certainly been a blizzard of announcements from the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – including reform of consultants’ contracts, a new single hospital trust regulator and a buddying scheme linking a leading US hospital to five NHS trusts.

This is the work of a leading figure in the business world, Stuart (now Lord) Rose who once ran Marks & Spencer.

Early last year he was given the task of reporting on how to develop potential top managers in the health service and how strong leadership might help deliver reform where required in hospitals. The Rose report was delivered at the end of last year. He was then asked by Jeremy Hunt to update it to take account of the Five Year View produced by Simon Stevens and other NHS leaders in England.

A new version was duly delivered in the spring. But nothing more has been heard of it till now.

This is just horrific and it saddens me to share, but has to be shown. May your darling mum now rest in peace. Joanna

This is what has happened to my mum after being left in her own urine for over a week. I asked the social service to up her care to personal care. My mum cant move at all any more and needs assistant. Because she has to have heater on in the bathroom to have shower they refuse to shower her because they get too hot. This is the outcome. I am disgusted please share; its all they way up her back and legs they are burns.

UPDATE: Mum has taken turn for worse and is now fighting for her life.
I asked social services 2 months ago to up her care to personal care. My mum can’t move anymore and needs assistance. She has cares that go in twice a day and they must of seen this. This is the outcome its all the way up her back and legs. I am disgusted and would appreciate it if you shared. She had to press her piper line to get assistance.

MyNotes Medical http://www.mynotesmedical.com will be designed to enable patients and carers to make text, video, audio and photo notes on digital devices while with a doctor, or soon after. Notes can be saved in date order to a fully secure server and/or PC. Personal files are visible through logging in with an ID and password. Personal information and treatment/medication details can also be added.

The government has published (16 July 2015) Learning not Blaming* its full response to the Freedom to Speak Up consultation, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) report on investigating clinical incidents in the NHS and the Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust Investigation.

Jeremy Hunt told Parliament today that when things go wrong “they will no longer be swept under the carpet” and that the NHS must “listen, learn and improve”.

Blogger and health campaigner Joanna Slater has developed an app in a bid to help tackle communication breakdowns between medics and patients. By Lisa Salmon

Have you ever left a medical appointment and suddenly thought you didn’t understand or can’t remember exactly what the doctor said? Or are you one of the patients whose notes have gone missing?

Health campaigner Joanna Slater is developing an app to help address these very things, called MyNotes Medical, which will enable people to make audio or text recordings of consultations and list treatments and medications they’ve received.

Along with co-founder Brad Meyer, she has now set up a crowdfunding site in a bid to raise money to put the finishing touches to the app, and they hope to be able to launch it later this year.

For Slater, reaching this point was triggered by personal experience. Her 85-year-old mother, Kay, died in hospital in January 2008, six months after being admitted for hip surgery.

Older hospital patients in England face a “widespread and systematic” pattern of inadequate care, according to a detailed statistical analysis of inpatient experience data in NHS hospitals in England.

The analysis* by Drs Polly Vizard and Tania Burchardt of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics uses data from the Adult Inpatient Survey for 2012-13 to give a detailed picture of older people’s reported experiences during hospital stays. The results showed that experiences of poor or inconsistent standards of dignity and help with eating were too high in the “vast majority” of NHS trusts. Over a fifth of older people (23%) reported experiencing poor or inconsistent standards of dignity and respect and more than one in three patients who needed help with eating did not receive enough assistance.

Poor or inconsistent care was more likely to be experienced by women, those aged over 80 and those with a long-standing illness or disability such as deafness of blindness. The likelihood of poor or inconsistent care was particularly high for patients whose hospital stay had been long or if they had stayed on three or more wards.

One in 28 deaths can be attributed to poor care and study says standard death rates should not be used to rank quality of care

About 750 patients a month in NHS hospitals are dying unnecessarily, the largest review of “avoidable deaths” has found. Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said“One in 28 deaths could be attributed to poor care such as inattentive monitoring of the patient’s condition, doctors making the wrong diagnosis or patients being prescribed the wrong medicine”.

In February, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, announced that hospitals in England would be required to monitor the rate of avoidable deaths and that officials would rank trusts on this measure. Hunt said the rate of avoidable deaths in hospitals was the “biggest scandal in global healthcare” and estimated that 1,000 patients died needlessly each month. He said healthcare should learn lessons from the airline industry, where annual deaths worldwide had fallen from 2,000 in the 1970s to 500 now.

The number of amputations carried out due to diabetes has reached an all-time high of 135 a week, a charity has warned, as it urged the Government to do more to ensure those with the condition are given the care and attention they need. Diabetes UK said that despite a big focus on preventing these amputations, the rate is rising due to the huge increase in the number of people developing the condition, which is often linked to being overweight.

The charity wants people to tweet Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt about the issue, using the hashtag #135shoes to highlight the fact that the feet are particularly at risk. It has calculated the figure using new Public Health England data, which show the annual number of diabetes-related amputations in England is now more than 7,000 compared to the previous 6,677, equating to seven more amputations each week. The charity added that up to 80 per cent of these amputations can be avoided if people with diabetes were given the necessary care.

Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause neuropathy and poor circulation, meaning that sufferers are 15 times more likely to have a limb amputated than those without the condition.

NHS England has today promised rapid and sustained action to tackle the over-prescribing of psychotropic drugs to people with learning disabilities after three separate reports highlighted the need for change.

Research commissioned by the health body and delivered in three reports from the Care Quality Commission, Public Health England, and NHS Improving Quality has found that:

There is a much higher rate of prescribing of medicines associated with mental illness amongst people with learning disabilities than the general population, often more than one medicine in the same class, and in the majority of cases with no clear justification;

Medicines are often used for long periods without adequate review, and;

There is poor communication with parents and carers, and between different healthcare providers.

One of the reports, authored by Public Health England, estimates that up to 35,000 adults with a learning disability are being prescribed an antipsychotic, an antidepressant or both without appropriate clinical justification.

Read the full report from HSJ, in association with Allocate Software, on why patient safety should be the core business of healthcare

Why do we need another report?

Financially, ethically and professionally, patient safety should be the core business of healthcare. Yet despite big improvements reducing healthcare-associated infections and venous thromboembolism, why does patient safety still feel like something we are yet to crack? Where are the main areas to focus? And what are the first steps to improve?

“It is curious that people should think a report self-executive, should not see that, when the report is finished, the work begins” Florence Nightingale, letter to Mary Elizabeth Herbert (1863)

What if better communication between patient and NHS could prevent needless illness or death?

Warning: Lack of notes can kill!

Every year, thousands of NHS patients suffer needlessly. Doctors are over­worked, mistakes are made and billions of pounds are wasted. The question is, why?

If you have ever been a patient, or your loved one has, you may know for yourself the confusion and stress that often occurs:

You don’t understand what the doctor or consultant is saying

Your story is not taken seriously

You find it difficult to recall your diagnosis or treatment, since you have no notes to refer to

Perhaps, as a result you are sent away with the wrong diagnosis, or you have to make several appointments.

This is critical:

You don’t understand everything that the medical professionals are asking or saying to you; no one seems to have access to your loved one’s medical history and you are worried that you may generalise, delete or distort something critical when telling people what they need to know. All of this wastes precious time in which you or your loved one could be receiving proper treatment.

The problem is down to a breakdown in communication between patient and consultant. And, the problem has been publicly recognised and acknowledged.

Trouble is, all too often the solution has been developed by medical professionals for the ‘benefit’ of patients but NOT by patients themselves and NOT from a patient’s perspective.

Would you feel better if you could

Take Video’s, Record conversations, Take Photo’s that are automatically synchronised with your PC in date order to review, share and keep you in control?

Yes! That’s why you and your loved ones need MyNotes Medical. Written by Patients for Patients.

Private health clinics are putting women’s lives at risk with a ‘bogus’ breast cancer test they claim to be more accurate than NHS mammograms, a leading MP has warned.

Dozens of ‘alternative’ clinics offer women heat scans to detect breast cancer, suggesting to clients that the radiation-free tests are safer than standard mammography. The thermal imaging technique works on the theory that tumours – even tiny ones – show up as ‘hot spots’. But Dr Sarah Wollaston, a trained GP and chairman of the House of Commons Health Select Committee, says they are giving women ‘false reassurance that they are clear of breast cancer’. The Tory MP says there is ‘no credible evidence’ that the thermography tests accurately spot cancer, and accuses clinics of making ‘deliberately misleading’ claims they are a safe alternative to mammography.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found clinics are:

Cherry-picking academic studies that back thermal imaging – while exaggerating the shortfalls of mammography;

Misleading patients by quoting accuracy rates of up to 97 per cent – when an objective scientific review found accuracy is far lower;

Over-playing fears about the radiation dangers of mammograms – when the risk of the procedure triggering cancer is tiny.

An analysis by The Telegraph shows 20 hospital trusts have paid out £1.1 billion for medical blunders in just five years. While below we tell the tragic story of a mother left severely brain damaged after giving birth to her daughter

More than £1.1bn has been paid out for blunders at just 20 NHS trusts in the past five years, a Telegraph investigation can disclose.

The legal bill for medical blunders has quadrupled in the past decade, The Telegraph investigation shows. Action against Medical Accidents, the patient safety charity, said last night the growing scale of payouts was of huge concern and a massive burden on the NHS. “Clinical negligence is a huge and growing strain on the finances of the NHS, but the human cost is far greater,” said Peter Walsh, the charity’s chief executive, “Millions could be saved if there were more honesty and earlier admissions of liability.”

A man from Georgia treated more than 3,000 patients, after falsely claiming he was registered to practice as a medic – then stealing the identity of a fellow doctor, when he was found out

A “fake doctor” was able to treat more than 3,000 patients thanks to “extraordinary” lapses in checks on locum medics working in the NHS, an investigation reveals. The man from a former Soviet republic first practised here for more than two years despite the fact he was not qualified to do so.

When the Georgian, who had some medical training, but was not allowed to work unsupervised, was struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC), he stole the identity of a real medic, and obtained work at another NHS trust.

All negotiations over the running of local NHS 111 services have been suspended following a Telegraph investigation which exposed major safety risks to patients.

Health officials will issue a new blueprint this autumn promising a new model of care, and national standards on how the helpline should work with ambulances, GP out of hours and urgent care providers.

NHS England’s chief operating officer has written to all providers and commissioners of 111 services, calling for all current tender processes to be halted, until a new “functionally integrated” service has been designed.

Ministers and NHS bosses face an embarrassing row over safe staffing levels for nurses in hospital A&E departments in England after it emerged that the government body told to stop work in this area is going to publish its recommendations anyway.

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which is legally independent of the NHS, plans to release its work at the end of the month. It is also continuing evidence reviews for staffing mental health care for both inpatients and those in the community, for learning disability services and for other community health services.

The move, revealed by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), comes a month after news that NHS England, which is far more tightly controlled by the Department of Health (DH), had decided to take such work in-house. This was seen by critics as likely to lead to lower, and cheaper, standards in terms of staffing within the financially challenged service, which has already been told by health secretary Jeremy Hunt to stop using expensive staffing agencies, which, he says, have been “ripping off the NHS”.

The Nice publications will not be billed as official guidance but will be sent to NHS England in any case. Nice is concerned also that both its own work and that of NHS England has been hampered by only looking at nursing numbers.

Exposure goes undercover in a privately-run NHS out-of-hours centre and finds doctors not fully trained, targets being manipulated, and patients being asked to assess their own symptoms because the unit is too busy. According to the last GP-patient survey, almost half the public have no idea how to contact out-of-hours services, and last year the Royal College of General Practitioners said doctors were being undermined by ‘a chaotic and underfunded system’.

Covert footage filmed at a centre run by the UK’s biggest private provider of out-of-hours care shows chronic understaffing and medicine cabinets empty of vital drugs. Staff say recent changes aimed at hitting financial targets have affected the service they provide to patients. And experts who view the footage with reporter Mark Austin give a damning assessment of what they see, saying the practices on show could pose a risk to patients’ health.

Prof Susan Mason, one of the country’s top experts in emergency care, says: “I would have concerns that patient care is not at the heart of what they’re doing… I don’t think this is really in line with the true values of the NHS.” Dr Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s special advisor on urgent and unscheduled care, says: “I have to say, if I worked a shift in this [unit], it would only be a single shift and I’d be blowing whistles… I’d be telling them what I thought.”

The producer-director of this programme is Richard Butchins, and the executive producer is David Henshaw, for Hardcash.

A cheap and safe drug could help half of women with breast cancer to live longer, scientists suggest.

Their study, published in Nature, is in its early stages, but hints that the hormone progesterone could be used to slow the growth of some tumours. The UK and Australian researchers say the findings are “very significant” and they are planning clinical trials. Cancer Research UK said the study was “highly significant” and could help thousands of women. Hormones play a huge role in breast cancer. They can make a cancerous cell divide by hooking up with “hormone receptors” on the surface of a cancer. One of the most successful breast cancer drugs, tamoxifen, bungs up the oestrogen receptor.

“Better Control”

Cancers with progesterone receptors were known to be less deadly, but the reason why was unclear and they have not been explored as a treatment Now a team at the University of Cambridge and the University of Adelaide have studied cancer cells growing in the laboratory. They show that the progesterone receptor and the oestrogen receptor are closely linked and that the progesterone receptor can make the oestrogen receptor less nasty. Cancer cells growing in the laboratory grew to half the size when treated with progesterone and tamoxifen than when given tamoxifen alone.

One of the researchers, Prof Carlos Caldas from the University of Cambridge, told the BBC News website: “It appears you control the tumours better, but to prove it is better in women with breast cancer we need to do the trial. “It could be very significant. In early breast cancer you could increase the number of people being cured and in advanced breast cancer, where we’re not curing, we could control the disease for longer.” The researchers are in the first stages of planning a clinical trial.

About 75% of women have breast cancers with the oestrogen receptor and of those, 75% also have progesterone receptors. It suggests roughly half of women could benefit. Dr Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, said the early results were an “exciting” prospect. She told the BBC: “This is a highly significant finding. It could be an easy, cheap and simple way to improve the survival of thousands of women, but it needs clinical trials.”

If savings aren’t made and the Government doesn’t plug the funding gap by 2020, experts say “a debate” will be needed about what services the NHS can continue to offer. The frightening figures come from a survey of NHS finance bosses across England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Out of those questioned, 77 per cent of hospital bosses predict they will be in debt by the end of this financial year. They represent 36 per cent of the nation’s hospitals. However, the true figure of those spiralling into debt could be considerably higher as not all finance directors took part in the survey.

NHS told to be more like Asda where staff have sense of pride over work

A ‘toxic’ culture of bullying amongst NHS staff is putting the safety of patients at risk, a health minister has warned. Lord Prior revealed that a quarter of employees have been victimised by their own colleagues, a rate unheard of in other organisations. He said the health service needed to learn lessons from the supermarket chain Asda where staff feel valued and turn-up to work with a sense of pride.

By contrast, he spoke of how many doctors, nurses and back-office healthcare staff had become ‘switched-off’ and disillusioned. He also warned of the culture of hierarchy in the NHS with nurses routinely introducing themselves to other workers by their pay-scales, or ‘bands’, rather than their names. The health minister suggested that bosses should be ‘pushing the panic button’ over the high rates of bullying and taking urgent action to improve staff morale. He warned that the this attitude was impeding the NHS’s drive to improve care and safety, in the face of tighter financial constraints and the increasing elderly population.

Terminally ill welfare claimants are being asked by benefit assessors when precisely they are expected to die, according to evidence seen by Frank Field, the newly elected chairman of the work and pensions select committee.

Field has written to the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, asking for an explanation. He told the Guardian: “There is absolutely no need for this level of intrusive and painful questioning by DWP officials. If I have had two such cases in my conituency in recent weeks; I dread to think how often this is happening around the country.”

The Labour MP for Birkenhead said one of the complaints had come to him from a vicar on behalf of his sister.

Most doctors believe social services do not do enough to make sure people suffering from dementia have company and enough to eat

Dementia patients are being failed by social services who do not check if they are suffering from lonliness or malnourishment, GPs claim. A survey of 1000 doctors by the Alzheimer’s Society found that fewer than one in ten think people with dementia get enough statutory support to maintain a good diet or have adequate company. Three in five GPs (61 per cent) say lack of cooperation between the NHS and social care acts as a barrier to patients getting support, while many (73 per cent) also think patients, families and carers are left confused by the health and social care system.

The charity said that hundreds of thousands of people were being let down and called for the Government to ensure that everyone diagnosed with dementia is entitled to a full package of support including a Dementia Adviser. It also wants to see better help and support available for carers, with a single point of contact available to help them navigate the health and social care system.

Final decisions about changes to the health service could be taken out of the hands of politicians under new proposals by the Welsh government.

The public are being given a say on a range of ideas, including a merger of the health and social care watchdogs. There would be a legal duty for NHS staff to be more open with patients, not just when things go wrong. Patients would also be asked if they would be willing to share personal health data for medical research. The 50-page document will look at potential legislation which could be taken up after the next assembly elections in May 2016.

The Green Paper says a culture of more transparency, and not just when things go wrong, is needed at all levels of the health service. Patients will also be asked if they would be willing to share personal health data for medical research. A national expert panel could take over from the health minister in having the final say on controversial decisions like hospital changes.

I am committed to the cause of improving patient care and believe that MyNotes Medical will safeguard against medical mistakes and will prevent so much suffering, anguish and heartache on the part of patients, their carers and families. It will also unquestionable save many, many lives.

I am on a quest to launch MyNotes Medical and passionate to help everyone become more engaged in their medical care and be more effective in helping their loved ones.

Dr Jafar says he wants to make sure all doctors are trained adequately

A leading doctor is today leading calls for the Welsh NHS to improve its medical training after his mother died of a heart attack following ‘inadequate care’.

Dr Amer Jafar, one of Wales’ most senior medical consultants, was awarded £4,000 compensation after an investigation uncovered a spate of failings in the care of his 79-year-old mother. Dr Jafar called for the investigation after he said ‘unimaginable mistakes’ were made at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff over his mother Zahar Al Hasani’s death. A report found there was a three-and-a-half hour delay in identifying and treating her condition when she was taken into hospital.It also found there was a similar three-hour delay in giving her pain relieving paracetamol and then a six hour delay in giving her antibiotics.

Dr Jafar made a complaint to the health board after claiming his mother’s poor care had led to her suffering a fatal heart attack in March 2014. He said his elderly mother, who had a history of heart disease, was assessed wrongly by a doctor in his final year of training who ‘misdiagnosed and mismanaged’ her sepsis and failed to follow the ‘sepsis pathway’.

Are you caring for a loved one? Is it going well? Would it be really useful to have a tool that you could keep notes instantly, keep an eye on what the doctors are saying and be able to go back on your notes?

Yes! well please look at MyNotes Medical which is to safeguard our loved ones.
MyNotes Medical will single-handedly revolutionize the health care system!

This little app will prevent so much suffering, anguish and heartache on the part of patients, their carers and families. It will also unquestionable save many, many lives

MyNotes Medical is long overdue, and needs your financial support now!

It is imperative that we get the funding we need to launch this project. Your help is desperately needed, however small. Please go to our website http://goo.gl/3rf9c7

Please help us to help you and your loved ones and Together we can make a difference

A South Wales hospital has been given a damning food hygiene rating of just “1” – the second lowest on the official six-point scale.

Environmental health officers from Rhondda Cynon Taf Council who toured the Royal Glamorgan Hospital near Llantrisant on June 17 ruled the hospital needed a “major improvement”. Health board bosses insist they have since carried out necessary changes but admitted the low rating on the 0-5 scale had left them “very disappointed”.

In a statement issued at the time, the Cwm Taf University Health Board – which administers the facility and which received the results last Thursday – said: “We are very disappointed with this rating and apologise for what was an unacceptable inspection outcome.” The “1” rating meant the 570-bed hospital in Ynysmaerdy was told it had to make a “major” improvement – something it says it has now done.

The inspection had found that improvements were required in relation to food hygiene – and, in particular, safety procedures. There was no evidence of structural problems or pest control issues, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has noted.

The NHS needs another funding boost this year or patient care could suffer, health experts have said, in the latest bleak assessment of the health service finances.

Researchers at the King’s Fund found that an unprecedented nine out of 10 hospitals in England are predicting an end-of-year deficit, with estimates suggesting that NHS providers could go £2bn into the red.

The stark warning from the respected think tank, which comes ahead of next week’s Budget, also undermines some of the Government’s flagship NHS pledges, stating that an £8bn funding increase for the NHS in England by 2020 – announced before the election – is a bare minimum and cannot pay for David Cameron’s promise of seven-day working across the health service.

A man who was left-brain damaged after inadequate weekend hospital care has received a £3 million settlement from the NHS.

Tristan Rosevear, 47, spent nine weeks in intensive care after delays in treating septic arthritis in his left hip at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. The telecommunications executive had to be resuscitated and suffered a stroke. Almost five years on, he still struggles to communicate and has limited mobility. The payout, by the NHS Litigation Authority on behalf of St Mary’s, includes a £1.5 million lump sum and annual payments for the next 20 years for his rehabilitation and care.

His wife Janine Abery, 48, who gave up a film industry career to become his carer, told the Standard: “It’s been a long road. It’s been more than four-and-a-half years since Tristan’s stroke, and frustrating they didn’t see fit to settle earlier than they did. I hope the NHS can up its game so nobody else’s family has to suffer what Tristan’s has.”

Patients’ lives are being put at risk by the NHS 111 helpline because call- handlers are being told not to dispatch ambulances, it was claimed last night. One call-centre mentor chillingly told trainee staff that ‘everyone in this room has killed someone’, an undercover investigation found. Patients are being denied ambulances even if they are suffering the symptoms of a heart attack, the Daily Telegraph investigation reported. The NHS 111 helpline was launched in 2013 to provide round-the-clock advice to the public as an alternative to the former advice line NHS Direct, which was run by medically-qualified staff. The new helpline was intended to prevent unnecessary visits to A&E.

Staff on the 111helpline have previously been criticised for merely asking callers questions as guided by computer algorithms – and sending too many tohospital as a result. Call-handlers working on the service are expected to dispatch the emergency services if patients describe symptoms of serious illnesses. However, they are now said to be under pressure not to send out ambulances at certain times due to a shortage of paramedics and a backlog of requests.

An undercover reporter spent seven weeks working on the 111 helpline – which has had numerous problems since its launch – in a call centre in Bicester, Oxford.

New guidelines that aim to improve end of life care could be issued nationwide following a trial in hospitals in the East of England.

Dr Zoe Fritz, who oversaw the project, said the current “ad hoc” arrangement often led to an “undignified death”. She wants nationwide guidelines, based on what was trialled, covering Do Not Attempt to Resuscitate Orders (DNAR). “We found that doctors found it easier to have decisions and most importantly patients got better care,” she said. Legally, doctors do not need patient consent to issue a DNAR, but they must have consulted the patient beforehand.

Dr Fritz, a consultant physician who has studied DNARs at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge and at the West Suffolk Hospital, said: “Different doctors have different ways of deciding when someone should be for resuscitation. “The worst case is you start [to resuscitate] and someone who has had a peaceful death then wakes up briefly to find all these people around them, tubes in them, blood everywhere and then dies. “And unfortunately I’ve seen that on more than one occasion.”

The number of DNAR hospital complaints in the East of England has risen from seven in 2012 to 45 in 2014. A year ago, a Hertfordshire family took their DNAR complaint to the Court of Appeal. In a landmark judgement, the court ruled that the human rights of Janet Tracey were violated when she was placed under a DNAR order at Addenbrooke’s without consultation.

New guidelines are being unveiled for doctors, nurses and midwives across the UK on being honest and open with patients when things go wrong.

Known as a “duty of candour”, the guidelines make clear that patients should expect a face-to-face apology. In April, the NHS introduced a rule that told NHS and private healthcare organisations to admit their mistakes candidly, and as soon as possible. Now the same rule is to be applied to individual medics.

Say Sorry

Detailed guidance makes clear staff should tell the patient as soon as possible when something has gone wrong, and what it might mean for their health. The guidance also makes clear that patients or their families should receive a face-to-face apology. For the avoidance of doubt, it even spells out words that such an apology might include, such as “I am sorry”. The guidance was drawn up by the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council and applies to more than 950,000 doctors, nurses and midwives working in the UK.

Government plans to save NHS £80m a year by capping legal fees that in some cases run as high as 10 times the amount paid in compensation to clients.

In one case, a source at the Department of Health said a lawyer pocketed £175,000 while the patient received just £11,800 in damages. In another, the legal bill was more than £80,000 while the patient only received £1,000, although the legal bill was later reduced to less than £5,000 by the courts after a successful challenge by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA).

We have had a fantastic response regarding MyNotes Medical, but people are still unsure how MyNotes Medical works.

Here is a short slide presentation walkthrough how the programme will work. We NEED your support to help us to help you. Please pledge your support on our link http://goo.gl/3rf9c7 Thank you, Together We Can Make A DifferenceJoanna

From Karen Armstrong. I lost my mum to sepsis over 3yrs ago and I thought this was a great way of getting it out there.

Not many people know of sepsis. I thought maybe with this song people would remember what to look for. We’ve been through hell because of this disease so if this can save another family going through what we’ve gone through great raising awareness some people still don’t know what sepsis is and Drs nurses aren’t diagnosing sepsis.

Patients aren’t getting access to treatment sepsis six that saves lives. Staff failing to measure urine outputs in many cases, not having lactate levels tested. Testing the level of lactate its a chemical produced when cells are starved of oxygen and IV fluids to protect organs and raise dangerous low blood pressure. Antibiotics should be administered to clear any underlying infection.

Please watch this very unique video as more people need to be aware of sepsis

The first episode of the documentary series was a derivative but tear-jerking look at hospital life

It’s amazing how many hospital documentaries there are, giving you a ringside seat to every catheter insertion and scan result. They’re meant to fill you with respect for the NHS and make you cry, but surely we’ve all spent too much time in real, broken, depressing hospitals to fall for that one.

Dr Owen Wiese says the difference between negligence and an honest mistake is a fine line in the medical profession. Here are some examples of just plain bad doctoring he’s seen.

“Doctors bury their mistakes” is a sad, but unfortunately not completely untrue saying.

A study published in the British Medical Journal Quality and Safety in 2013 estimates that 10 to 15% of diagnoses made by doctors are completely wrong. (The study also found major diagnostic discrepancies in 10-20% of autopsy cases.). In fact, medical care is the third leading cause of death in the United States. I’m sure in South Africa things may not be much different, even if they are for different reasons.

As a GP in my ‘previous life’, I encountered rather strange diagnoses made by my colleagues in clinical practice.

One woman strongly opposed to the calls is Irene Rees, whose family used covert filming to help jail an NHS nurse who was abusing her 92-year-old mother-in-law. She joins us this morning alongside Eileen Chubb, founder of the campaign group Compassion in Care.

“You need cameras in care homes. We need them in the rooms. It should be part of a package that’s offered to you when you go to these homes. It’s up to the relatives then to decide… I can’t see any other way of safeguarding these elderly people” – Irene Rees

“Why did I blow the whistle? I saw widespread abuse of people. There was no question about reporting it to management, and we went higher, and higher, and higher” – Eileen Chubb Compassion in care

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called for relatives to be banned from secretly filming elderly residents they suspect are being abused in care homes. Earlier this year the Care Quality Commission watchdog introduced a new policy allowing families to covertly film relatives in homes as a ‘last resort’. But the RCN yesterday called for the policy to be banned – warning it would deter nurses from working in care homes and drive down care standards

30 hospitals have declared major incidents and cancelled routine surgery because they were so busy during the busy winter season

Some nurses blame the GP and 111 helpline for the rising numbers of patients who are not seriously ill but are turning up in A&E

Elderly patients are considered less urgent than cases of road traffic accidents, brain haemorrhages and heart attacks

Casualty units have become ‘places of terror’ for the elderly, senior nurses have warned. They say patients are being abandoned on trolleys in corridors in mid-summer, when hospitals should be less busy. The so-called ‘winter pressures’ are now carrying on year-round with a steady stream of patients arriving. And it is the elderly who are most affected, with many routinely having to wait up to 20 hours on trolleys.

This winter was one of the worst on record for A&E units, with 30 hospitals declaring major incidents and cancelling routine surgery because they were so busy. But nurses say the crisis is continuing, with patients turning up after failing to get an appointment with their GP or being referred inappropriately by the 111 helpline.

It is the elderly who wait the longest, however, because they are less urgent than cases of road traffic accidents, brain haemorrhages and heart attacks.

I am so very happy with the amount of positive comments people have given MyNotes Medical when we launched our campaign yesterday, but to make this happen “I NEED YOUR HELP”.

Please sponsor MyNotes Medical as this vital to help safeguard against any medical errors, and we need MyNotes Medical launched within 3 months. However small your donation, this will commit you to being one of the very people that helped protect people’s lives from the “very real” threat of medical mistakes.

Before you receive any treatment from a doctor, you’ll be asked to give consent. It may be a simple question ‘May I take your blood pressure?’, to which you might nod or show agreement by rolling up your sleeve. Or if it’s a more complex procedure involving a general anaesthetic, you’ll be asked to sign a form to show you know the full facts about what’s being planned. The only time we won’t be asked for our consent is when emergency treatment is needed or when a patient lacks the mental capacity to give consent.

The idea is that the patient shares the decision-making. You bring your own expertise to the table: your knowledge of how your health problem affects your daily life and what risks you’re prepared to take. At least that’s the theory. Yet two recent cases have shown that too often doctors aren’t obtaining proper informed consent for surgery, putting patients at risk of harm. When you sign a consent form, often just before surgery, there are two sections: one for the doctor to write down details of the procedure and another to include a list of any risks that the patient needs to know about. Once you’ve signed it, one of the two copies is meant to be given to you.

But that’s not what happened when Marlene Clarke, a retired bank sales manager from Derby, underwent surgery for suspected lung cancer. According to the consent form she signed in 2010, Mrs Clarke, now 69, was due to have a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis at Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust.

Dr Phil Banfield, chair of the association, says the figures from a survey of doctors and consultants in secondary care are ‘hugely worrying’

Six out of 10 doctors and consultants in Wales say they have been bullied or harassed for raising concerns about patient safety to senior managers. That is just one of the damning statistics from a survey of doctors and consultants in secondary care released today by the British Medical Association (BMA). The association’s Welsh Council chairman, Dr Phil Banfield, has called the findings “hugely worrying” and called on the Welsh Government to “create a culture of support”.

The report goes on to suggest that doctors and consultants think the NHS in Wales is riven with poor leadership and a lack of direction from hospital managers, and that serious mistakes are avoided more by luck than sound planning and robust systems.

A disabled man who secretly recorded verbal abuse by a hospital doctor has received an apology from an NHS trust.

David Massey, 54, recorded the doctor, whom he had previously made a complaint about, saying: “What can I do to you? I can probably beat you up, I suppose.” After police were called, one officer suggested leaving him “on the Cat and Fiddle” A537 road in Cheshire. Cheshire Police said they “regret” the incident. Mr Massey said he thought the incident, in March 2014, was “disgraceful”The patient, who has diabetes and chronic back pain, went to an out-of-hours clinic at Macclesfield General Hospital.

The patient, who has diabetes and chronic back pain, went to an out-of-hours clinic at Macclesfield General Hospital. He says he was in severe pain and needed another pain-relieving patch. After a long discussion, the doctor refused to give him any medication but Mr Massey declined to leave and started secretly recording the conversation on his phone.

Speaking about how he could get Mr Massey to leave the room, the doctor can be heard saying: “I can probably beat you up I suppose.” Mr Massey then replies: “You’re going to beat me up?”, to which the doctor responds: “Yeah”.

A daughter recorded care home workers humiliating her mum as she begged for help.

The staff members were caught out when a secret tape recorded them giving a slow round of applause to distressed Doreen MacIntyre, 94, after she asked for “a hand”. The shocking treatment was captured on a secret recording device hidden by concerned daughter Blan Bremner.

The 16-hour tape revealed two members of staff persistently behaving inappropriately in front of Doreen. The carers were suspended and later resigned as a result of the incident, but Blan – who felt “physically sick” after listening to the tape – is calling for further action against those responsible. “They were sarcastic, vindictive and showed no respect to her,” she said. “I burst into tears listening to it.”

Nursing chiefs say there is a shortage of 3,000 midwives and extra staff are needed

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has infuriated midwives by highlighting the “shocking” number of babies who die at birth in the UK. He made the remark on Twitter after it was revealed the NHS had paid £1billion to settle maternity negligence cases. The Health Secretary tweeted: “Shocking that 1300 babies killed or harmed during childbirth last year: we must go further & faster to make the NHS the safest system globally”. But the remark angered nursing chiefs who pointed to a shortage of 3,000 midwives and called for extra staff to be hired to improve patient safety.

I was then presented with a form to sign for me to take responsibility and accountability for the patient. But there was no mention of the patient’s likes and dislikes, no details of a possible safeguarding issue, and no elaboration on her worries about the possibility of having her dog taken away as she may be unable to manage at home, and face residential home placement.

We are inundated with paperwork – of that there is no question. But the single most important piece of paperwork in my view as far as person-centred care is concerned, is the “about me” form. It is an ingenious document, cleverly crafted to ensure that the team are aware of a person’s preferences, likes and dislikes and their personal history while in hospital.

Our family are devastated, but we would like to help this charity raise funds to help raise awareness of HCM and to promote screening for such conditions.

Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor us and donations will be quickly processed and passed to CRY. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on a charity’s behalf where the donor is eligible for this. We really appreciate all your support and thank you for any donations.

The Health Secretary has been warned that he faces legal action unless he revises the new regulations requiring NHS and social care institutions to hold their hands up and admit when something has gone wrong in a patient’s treatment.

The new regulations, called duty of candour, were widely welcomed when they were brought in following the scandal at Mid-Staffordshire trust. They require patients or their relatives to be told when an incident during treatment has caused significant harm. The rules apply to NHS and private health care and social care providers.

But now leading patient charity, Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has said the way the regulations have been drafted means that private clinics and hospitals and GP surgeries could avoid admitting harm in cases where cause and effect are less obvious.

AvMA has now given the Department of Health until Friday 19th June to respond or it will seek a judicial review. Their argument hinges on the words “could lead to”.

You wake up hungry, thirsty, forced to be alone, trapped in a bed with people lying about you, making you scared and wanting you dead.

This is what is happening to the old and people who medicine is considered too expensive in the UK but not else where in the world! And then this is being hidden.

I Dr Jones want a proper Independent public jury investigation including coroner on the death of my mother Mavis Banks. Who in her last days had tears in her eyes and wanted to live. But was forced to die. My mother said someone from Chester City council was trying to sell her home and land cheap and hit her in 2010 before her stroke that lead her to be in a nursing home. The strange actions of Chester City council were all done to shut her up and shows massive corruption in Cheshire.

Please click on the link and sign to stop this before it affects your loved ones.

A woman whose daughter was stillborn says she was refused a Caesarian despite raising her concerns that her baby was in distress.

And Jennie Collins says she was put in a ‘filthy’ room with blood spots on the sink and in the toilet and a bin full of medical waste while she waited to deliver tragic Layla having been told the devastating news. Now the 31-year-old and her fiancé Daniel Davenport, aged 35, are demanding answers from Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital after their daughter was stillborn, despite asking for a Caesarian section. And the couple have told of their concerns over how they were looked after, including how they were told they should drink water from a tap labelled for hand washing only.

They are now considering legal action while the Dudley Group of Hospitals, which insists the room was cleaned before, during and after Miss Collins was in there, has appointed an executive director to investigate.

Online research said it would come back but doctors said: ‘stop Googling’

A teenage cancer victim begged doctors to take her seriously in a series of desperate messages written shortly before she died, it was revealed today.

Bronte Doyne, 19, said she was ‘fed up of trusting’ medics who refused to accept she was dying and was told to ‘stop Googling’ the rare illness that would eventually kill her. Miss Doyne died in March 2013, 16 months after she developed fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FBC), a rare form of liver cancer which only affects 200 people a year worldwide. The teenager had an operation in September 2011 to remove the cancer and was told she would make a full recovery, but online research in America told her that FBC often returns.

But ‘aloof and evasive’ doctors at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) treated her with ‘woeful lack of care and empathy’ and refused to accept this and told her to ‘stop Googling’. In a text weeks before she died she said: ‘Need answers. Want to know what’s going on. Something’s not right. I’m sick of this’. And days before she died she wrote: ‘Can’t begin to tell you how it feels to have to tell an oncologist they are wrong. I had to, I’m fed up of trusting them’.

The Health Ombudsman has accused NHS trusts of failing to deal with serious complaints properly.

Too many, often bereaved relatives, are left with no other choice but to take their issues to the ombudsman because trusts fail to deal with them locally, it said. Today a report containing investigations dealt with in October and Novermber last year showcases the wide range of cases the Ombudsman service investigates about the NHS in England and other government departments.

One case a family who had no choice but to place a vulnerable man with dementia in private care over Christmas, after he was unsafely discharged from A&E on Christmas Day. One hospital trust gave no assurance that errors that led to a patient with dementia being left on a trolley in A&E for more than 33 hours followed by an assessment unit for 42 hours would not happen again.

Medics on standby fail to respond when patient has heart attack on operating table as no one can see flashing lights on cardiac arrest alarm

Nurses did not realise a patient was having a heart attack because a vending machine had been put in front of a cardiac arrest alarm, a whistleblower has revealed. The obstruction meant that medics on standby in a coffee room failed to respond when the patient had a heart attack on the operating table – because no one could see the flashing lights on the alarm. An inside at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital described it as a “serious breach of patient safety”.

The whistleblower said: “While the staff were preparing a patient for heart surgery in one of the theatres, this patient suffered a cardiac arrest so normal procedures were followed, the arrest alarm was activated and, while the doctor and nurses were working on the patient, the scrub nurse was sent to see why there was no response to the arrest alarm.

Leadership in the NHS is an endlessly debated topic – but discussions rarely go beyond the expression of bland platitudes and well-worn truisms. Only very occasionally do these debates produce actionable conclusions with lasting impact on the management of the NHS.

This report is an attempt to go beyond that uninspiring conversation, to provide real insight into the challenges faced by current and future NHS leaders, and to make some concrete recommendations on how they may be overcome.

Thirty years ago Roy Griffiths produced his landmark report containing the defining phrase that “if Florence Nightingale were carrying her lamp through the corridors of the NHS today she would almost certainly be searching for the people in charge”.

It was, precisely, the right diagnosis for the time. It led to the introduction of general management in the NHS – a form of leadership which replaced the “consensus management” that had arrived with the 1974 reorganisation of
the NHS.

Consensus had failed because it effectively gave a veto to any member of the team and too often produced, in Sir Roy’s words, “lowest common denominator decisions”, if any decision at all.

Today’s debate on healthcare leadership, nationally and internationally, is all about integration and system leadership – perhaps
a reinvention of consensus management, but this time between organisations rather than within them.

by By Alastair McLellan HSJ

Read all the recommendations set out by the HSJ Future of NHS Leadership inquiry

Patient safety campaigners will march on the Department of Health this week to call for safe staffing levels on NHS wards.

Charlie Cooper for The Independent

The demonstration follows a decision to end key research at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) into safe staffing ratios that the NHS could use. Campaigners, led by Julie Bailey, who helped expose the Mid Staffordshire care scandal, will deliver a letter to the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday, calling on him to reverse the decision.

Nursing leaders and patient safety experts have expressed concern that the research, which will be taken on by NHS England, will now be “based on cost” and not evidence of what is safest. The protest is a blow to Mr Hunt, who has gained a reputation as a staunch advocate of patient safety issues. Cure the NHS, the campaign group founded by Ms Bailey, said in a statement: “Jeremy Hunt has been at the forefront of promoting patient safety. But this recent announcement appears to be a backward step and goes against all he has promoted.”

The move follows a decision to end research into safe staffing ratios.